Important points for a good site map

Here are some hallmarks of a good site map, which helps visitors at finding information quickly on your web site

• The site map should be the simplest page on your web site.
• Do not give a fancy name to the site map link such as "Web Site Tree" - keep it as "Site map", this way your visitors understand immediately what you mean.
• You should always avoid "dynamic" site maps. Those in which the visitors have to "work" their way to get hold of information. Remember, the reason visitors comes to a site map page is because they are lost. To make them work again for something that you can display as a simple static link will just kill the purpose of having a site map.
• If the site map is list of text links, be sure to use the TITLE attribute of the anchor tag and include keywords inside it.
• It is a good idea to put a sentence describing the page contents below the link for that page on a site map.
• A site map should not be the primary navigation on your web site it should complement it.
• A link to the site map page is very important and all pages should carry this link. The site map link can be included with other links in the main menu on your web site or placed at a section on the web page from which is it clearly visible.
• Other important aspects on a web site should complement site maps. For example, the link color for visited links should be different from that of non-visited links so that visitors understand which pages they have already seen and thus, save time.