In the never ending battle of increasing traffic to web sites, one of the more crucial elements needed to ensure success is the site map.  Exactly what is an XML site map?  How does one create an XML site map?  Answering these questions will enable us to create an XLM site map that search engines will be able to index properly.

What is a site map?

A site map is the listing of all the pages held within a web site.  It is created with the intent of easily informing search engines about pages that are on a web site and available for crawling or indexing.  The listing starts at the home or base page and then branches out accordingly.  This listing can be done in several different formats – XML, text file or a syndication feed (RSS).  One or all formats can be chosen but in order to be effective, the site map(s) created must be in a format that allows search engine spiders to properly index all the listed pages.  As XML is a standard by  most search engines, XML is the best formatting choice.

A bit about protocol

To be truly effective, an XML site map should follow the standard site map protocol.  It must begin with the opening tag <urlset> and end with the closing tag </urlset>.  Within the <urlset> tag the proper namespace should be declared – in most cases this would be “http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9″.  The numbering at the end of this url indicates the latest site map schema version as indicated by the sitemaps.org site (the official site for site map protocols and more).  Within the <urlset> beginning and closing tags, each page within the web site is listed.  This listing begins with the <url> tag and ends with the </url> closing tag.  The <url> set then contains all the vital information regarding the specific page.  This includes the actual url, the last date the page was modified, how often the page changes and a priority numbering.  At a minimum, each <url> set must contain the url of the page or <loc>.  The remaining information is optional.  More information on protocols and the proper creation of a site map can be viewed at http://www.sitemaps.org.

How to create one

The creation of a site map is quite easy.  If your web site is only a few pages, you can create an XML site map manually.  However, if your web site is rather extended, the best option would be to use one of many different programs available on the web.

There are many programs you can download and use on your computer to create your site map.  Alternatively you can use an online site map creator.  One such online option is available at XML-Sitemaps.  This site offers a straightforward four step operation – you type in your base url, select how often your site is changed, indicate the last modification date, select the priority number and click start.  Once your site maps is created, you simply download it to your main site folder.  This site creates XML site maps that work perfectly with Google and will enable you to use the Google webmaster tools to enhance your SEO efforts further.  One thing to keep in mind with XML-Sitemaps is the online version will only index up to 500 pages.  If your site is much larger than this, you would be better off downloading a piece of software that will index larger sites.

Conclusion

Creating an XML site map for your site is just one step in the SEO process.  It is simple to do either manually or with some online help.  A properly created XML site map will ensure your site is thoroughly indexed by search engines and will contribute to your SEO efforts.

Even though social networking has evolved to include sites like MySpace, FaceBook and Twitter, traditional blogging continues to be one of the hottest phenomenons in today’s web-based world.  There are quite a few blogging platforms, but WordPress is easily among the most widely used and perhaps the most popular of them all.  This powerful web publishing tool is easy to install, customize and maintain, providing you with the ability to have your very own blog site up and running in no time.  You can blog about a hobby, something that interests friends or family, or use this medium as tool that helps propel your business to the next level.  Regardless of what your plans call for, Wordpress can act as that stable and reliable platform you need to make a name for yourself as a blogger.

The WordPress Phenomenon

WordPress has become an immensely popular blogging platform due to its ease of use and cost efficiency.  The software is open-source with no licensing fees required, making it absolutely free to anyone who wants to use it.  Being open-source also allows the WordPress software to be customized to meet the specific needs of the user.  Over the years, developers have created a number of themes and plugins that are now widely available to its large community of users.  All this activity gives you the opportunity to start out with a simple blog and later incorporate all the features and functionality needed to enhance your site.

Meeting the Requirements for WordPress Hosting

Perhaps the most unique quality of WordPress is that is can be self hosted through WordPress.com or WordPress.org, with the latter requiring you to install the software on your own web hosting account or server.  Finding the right solution isn’t necessarily difficult, but it does call for you to evaluate all of the available options before choosing a hosting provider.  Because it is such a popular software program, WordPress is widely supported by many companies on the web hosting market.  However, one must still conduct thorough research in order to make sure their requirements and expectations are met.  When shopping for a service, some important factors you want to keep in mind are bandwidth and disk storage so your blog will have enough resources to support traffic and store your files.  There are also some basic requirements that must be fulfilled to complete a WordPress hosting package.  The two most essential features you will need are a MySQL database, and a web server such as Apache with PHP installed, which is the programming language the software is written in.

There are many web hosting providers offering a wide variety of features and options that make it much easier to work with the WordPress software.  For example, some offer auto-install utilities and upgrades that allow you to remain current with the latest functionality and security features.  Others permit the hosting of multiple domains, which gives you the opportunity to host more than one blog under a single account.  WordPress can work wonders for your web presence, but the journey all begins with finding a company that can provide you with a reliable hosting solution.

These days, the average web hosting company has thousands of websites to maintain and even more customers to keep happy.  Manually performing all of the required tasks across multiple web servers is prohibitively costly and in many environments, impossible.  Being that web hosting is such a demanding operation, even seemingly trivial processes such as creating email accounts would be overwhelming difficult.  This is where control panels and automation come into play.  With a quality control panel application, hosting providers can get an efficient handle on server administration while their customers can manage virtually every aspect of their own websites without intervention from the host.

Control panel software is designed to automate various aspects of server administration, taking the pain out of intensive manual labor.  Some of the most notable include creating email accounts, SQL databases, access control and facilitating software installations among other administrative functions.  Most of these programs work by providing each domain and website owner with a unique access ID, which gives them access to the user interface of the control panel.  When the user logs in to their hosting account via the software, they are then able to perform a number of different server administration tasks based on the available features, resources and access permissions.  A good control panel will not only allow you to accomplish server administration with relative ease, but also monitor your resource usage, view server logs and manage your files right on the software.

Commercial vs. Custom Control Panels

When it comes to control panel applications, web hosting firms generally have two options.  They can choose to purchase an out of the box commercial solution, or build their own custom software in-house.  A large number of companies have elected to build their own software programs due to their proprietary hardware infrastructure, assured compatibility and to elude the often expensive licenses that come along with commercial products.  On the other hand, developing custom automation software in-house can prove to be both time consuming and expensive.   Most importantly, it could result in a much steeper learning curve for the hosting provider’s customers.  Therefore, most companies utilizing generic software and hardware components are better suited for out of the box commercial solutions as they typically offer the utmost in convenience for the end customer.  These type of control panels eliminate the cost and complexities of designing the application and also cut down on technical support as customers will be less likely to rely on assistance from the host.

Summary

Control panel software enables web hosting companies to drastically reduce overhead expenses through the simplistic power of automation.   This in turn, allows them to be more competitive in terms of pricing and even extend that power and control onto their customers who can perform a number of server administration tasks regardless of their technical knowledge.  From cPanel and Plesk to DirectAdmin and Helm, control panel software plays a key role in making sure web hosting is simple and affordable.