We’re all familiar with the idea of a website sitemap. It’s generally that convoluted page that has all the links that really don’t help you navigate to where you want to be because it’s not structured very well and it just goes on and on and on kinda like this sentence. Well, as hard as it is for us to figure out, the search engines just love ‘em (at least a version of them).

When our Google, Bing, or Yahoo overlords send out their robots to crawl the interwebs, the purpose is to gather all the information stored on your website. In an oversimplification, this is accomplished by starting at one website. Then they follow the links that are embedded within that site which lead them to another site. Those links are then followed and eventually they have a pretty good layout of the entire internet.

So what if you have a page that no one links to? Or you have some pages that you don’t want to be included in the search engine listings. This is where you can take control of your content. The first thing a search bot does when it visits your home on the web is look for a little file called robots.txt. This file should be located in the root folder of your domain. It is within this robots.txt file that you give the search bot either its all access pass, or a cease and desist order. It is also where you can point it to your xml sitemap.

The XML sitemap is the roadmap to your world but written in a format that computers can easily understand. The search bots like that XML part. We won’t go into details regarding exactly how to read or write XML, but if you’d like more information I encourage you to learn more.

Providing the search engines with this “map to your stars” will help you keep your entire site indexed. This is true whether the page in question is linked to from another site or not. Bear in mind though that the XML sitemap is not a magic pill. The XML sitemap won’t necessarily help this page rank higher within the search listings, but at least it will be accounted for.

So how do I make an XML sitemap?

I’m glad you asked. The easiest and most powerful way to include a sitemap in your Worpress powered site is through a plugin called Google XML Sitemaps. This plugin will not only make a map of your site but also notify each of the major search engines whenever you update your content. As an added bonus the plugin also adds the location of the XML sitemap to your robots.txt file. Overall it’s a win win for both you and the search bots.

What if I’m not using WordPress?

Well, that’s not ideal, but all hope is not lost. For Drupal you can find a module here. For those of you still using Movable Type the process requires more work but you can start by looking at this page.

The benefits of helping the search engines index your data far outweigh the time it will take to get an XML sitemap up and running. I encourage you to add this task to the top of your website priority list and help your search engine overlords help you.

Here are my top 10 web sites I attend on a daily basis. (Not including the large amount of social media and networking sites I seem to live by)

Smashing Magazine
Get your daily tech fix! Check out the top 100 on anything media related! Catch some new design techniques! The site is ENDLESS on tutorials, best of the best, and eye candy

Logo Pond
My daily logo inspiration

Design Observer
This web site is great for catching up on news in the arts, media, and and advertising/marketing. This site holds an endless amount of topics that range from popular culture to technology.

Design*Sponge
Oh heavens, the mother of design blogs. Interior design, colors, patterns, and much journalism

Vectips
Get BETTER at vector! And look at pretty posters + creatures!

Web Creme
Want a reference/inspiration site about web design? Sleek, Contemporary, Functional Web Design. Period. Helps you define how you want YOUR site to look.

G4TV
Get caught up on everything TECH! Well, and viral.

Kuler
COLOR SCHEME! Pick out your palette for anything! FUN and EASY.
Get that guest room painted and decorated the right way.

Wooster Collective
Get urbanified! Check out whats going on in the Graffiti Artist world. ( I wish KC was woostered-up )

Ads of the World
You like cleverness, don’t you? Check out these wonderful ads showcased internationally. You’ll get some smiles, promise.

Get in touch! Get updated! Get involved! Get better! Hopefully these sites will get you there.

So now that you know a little bit about my taste in cinematic comedies, how about what I do here at Adcuda. My specialty is front end web development and PHP. That means I bring all the web components together for the excellent sites Adcuda builds for it’s clients. HTML, XHTML, CSS, JQuery, PHP. That’s me.

What does that mean for those not familiar with internet buzzwords? It means that when you view one of our clients sites in your web browser, I’m responsible for the way things fit together and are presented. Not the design or look of the page, that would be Craig’s job. But rather the glue that holds all of the elements together. This also includes any interaction you may need to do on the site.

Let’s recap what you know about me so far. I have a keen sense of humor ( see movie reference above ), and I’m a rockstar ninja web developer.

With that knowledge in hand what can you expect from me on this blog? On a weekly basis I hope to bring you a little nugget of information that will help you understand the technologies that make websites tick. This may be in the form of simple code tutorials or highlighting plugins and technologies I come across. In fact, if their is some technology or trend you would like learn more about, leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do.

The old saying just doesn’t work… Probably never did, but now its become increasingly important to not only have a function but capture the content-blinded-public. Any company can create a “website” defined by webster dictionary as

Main Entry: Web site
Function: noun
Date: 1992
: a group of World Wide Web pages usually containing hyperlinks to each other and made available online by an individual, company, educational institution, government, or organization

but its FORM is what make people stay, converts those end users into tangible $$$ pumping customers. So the old saying Form follows Function is inaccurate, Form and Function breath simultaneously and should be tackled together. This becomes incredibly important with website design and something I keep in mind when designing and building them. For a visual tasty treat… Checkout the top image they’re both websites serving their “function” now ask yourself which one you’d trust to do business with…