Using a sitemap generator to make a sitemap for your website is a great decision.
With a sitemap generator it makes the task of establishing a fully functional and useful sitemap a breeze. What’s more, with a sitemap generator, any changes to your website are usually updated without you doing them manually. This is a huge time saver and eliminates the tedium of doing this task manually.
However, even if you have the best sitemap in the world it is not worth anything unless you religiously promote your sitemap and/or website. There are many ways to promote your website/sitemap and it ranges from the typical to the illegal. Of course, as a conscientious web master or business owner, only so-called white hat methods are in your arsenal of sitemap promotion tools and tactics.
Below are some white hat methods that you can also incorporate in your own promotions plans:
Visit online forums – You can use signature links or refer to your website whenever appropriate when you post replies in any forum. Of course, this should not be seen as an opportunity to spam online forums. Don’t construct replies that look like ads because it turns off forum members and may be used as a reason for you to get banned. Reply within context of the subject.
Post comments in blogs – again, do not use the comments capabilities of a blog to spam people. Make real comments on the blogs and again reply within the context of the blog entry or previously posted comments and then introduce your website within reason.
Establish a relationship with website owners – this method requires a lot of subtlety and careful handling. You can email the webmasters of websites you are interested in and maybe ask questions about their site. You can even ask where they acquired the information in the website. The idea here is quite simple – establish a relationship with the website owners/webmasters of websites that would benefit your own website. The ultimate goal here is to get some links.
Distribute content to industry portals – This is a great way of establishing your reputation as well as your website’s reputation as authorities in the field or sector in which you have dedicated your website.
Join award programs and submit your website for consideration – By joining award programs, you will get links to your sites from their sites. There are some sites that even demand that you link to them. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to build up your reciprocal links.
Submit the website to industry directories – submitting your website for inclusion in online directories especially those that cater to niche markets is a great way of promoting your website. Listing in directories is also a wonderful method for making the content on your website more easily reached and discovered by people.
Post physical ads – by promoting your website through traditional means (billboards, flyers, and even merchandise) you get to reach audiences that may not frequent the internet that often but may be interested in what your website may be offering.
Add to Del.icio.us | DiggThis | Yahoo! My Web | Furl
You can create this file in the ROR sitemap generator.
XML-Sitemaps.com has an online sitemap generator that creates XML, HTML, text and ROR sitemaps and also provides some useful SEO tools.
