Sitemaps are the perfect way to plan the content and structure of your website. Designers, copywriters and marketers use them to map out website categories before jumping into the design phase. They become an invaluable reference for the whole team.
Traditionally, a sitemap is just a static document, but they can be so much more. Building a sitemap in Milanote allows you to create the perfect combination of content and structure, setting out both the hierarchy of pages and also what will live on those pages.
In this guide, you'll learn the modern approach to creating a rich, visual sitemap to inform a website design project.
What type of content do you need to include on your website? Get together with your team or client and start adding content ideas. This is the time to get creative—add as many ideas as you can. Consider what's most important to your users as well. Are there insights from recent customer research or surveys you've run?
You may not be sure how many pages you need at this stage. This is fine! It's important to remain open minded, we'll refine it and add some structure in the next few steps.
Create a new board for your Sitemap.
Drag a board out from the toolbar. Give it a name, then double click to open it.
Drag out a board for each category on your website.
Drag a board out from the toolbar. Give it a name, then double click to open it.
Once you've added your content ideas, it's time to start organizing them into groups. The easiest way to do this is to visually group similar content together. Just drag and drop content into clusters. Themes will start to emerge naturally. You can also use color to help unify each group of content.
Drag boards into clusters.
Select a board, then choose the color option in the left toolbar.
There are a few different ways you can structure your website content, but the most common is the tree structure, which we'll use in this example. Start by moving your homepage to the top of your board. All your content categories will fall below home. Next, move your content categories under home and start to tidy things up.
Lastly, use arrows to show the relationship between content. This is a great way to visually explain the hierarchy of your website content. Now you have the perfect birds-eye view of how your website fits together.
Drag lines from one board to another to show relationships.
Most traditional sitemaps finish here and remain as just a diagram. But we're going to start adding content into each category of our sitemap and create a much richer plan for our website. Open a board for one of your categories so you can start mapping out the content.
Double-click a board to open it.
Begin by adding ideas for the written content that might appear on this page. It doesn't have to be the final copy but it will give everyone a feel for what you're aiming to communicate. Think about the key messages you want to communicate, page titles and even SEO keywords you need to include. Don't worry about the structure of it yet—just get it out of your head!
Add a note to capture your content ideas.
Start typing then use the formatting tools in the left hand toolbar.
Next, think about the images that would suit this page. Again, these don't have to be the final images, but they'll help bring it to life. You can use images from the web or open Milanote's built-in image library to quickly find inspiring examples.
Use the built-in image library to find example imagery.
Search over 3 million beautiful, free photos then drag images straight onto your board. Powered by Pexels.
If you have a picture in your head of head of how the page could be structured, grab a pen and sketch it out. Even if it's just some boxes and arrows, it's a great way to figure out which messages are more important than others. A simple sketch is also a useful reference for the developers who will need to build the website.
Select the Pen tool to sketch your page layout.
Now that your Sitemap is finished, invite your content and development teams to begin adding their ideas and feedback to the boards. Too often, designers and copywriters work separately and see a mismatch in their ideas later in the process. Collaborating early in the project keeps everyone on the same page from day 1.
Invite others to edit your sitemap.
Open the "Share" menu from the title bar of your board. Add email addresses of the people you'd like to collaborate with—they'll receive an invitation via email.
You now have a great plan for the content and structure of your website. But remember, a website is never finished. You can continue to evolve your sitemap over time by experimenting with new ideas in these boards. If you're starting a new website design project right now, use the free template below or read our full guide on How to plan a website design project.
日喀则市网站seo优化排名翠屏区网站seo优化排名南京无锡网站优化石碣网站关键词优化哪家好饮料网站优化的效果优化网站侣缆云速捷精湛13浦口区网站怎么优化网站建设加优化温州网站搜索引擎优化网站外链优化运营优化网站方法必火2星优秀网站优化版本网站可以优化蜘蛛吗耒阳百度网站优化网站优化代码怎么搜地产网站seo优化咨询安庆360网站优化网站统一回答优化问题xx公司网站优化策划做搜狗网站优化首页软找谁做优化网站冀州网站优化排名太原百度网站排名优化西宁网站优化seo莱山全网营销网站优化如何自己做网站的优化推广托克逊县网站seo优化排名seo网站排名优化特色效果好网站关键字优化服务帝国模板网站好优化吗怎么在各大网站优化哪家好内蒙古网站优化效果宿州市网站排名优化公司河源网站优化公司如何江都区seo网站优化网站优化-准度科技好莱州响应式网站优化优化网站要多长时间整个网站的性能优化网站关键词稳定优化价格兴义市网站优化服务网站优化排名排行台湾视频营销网站优化怎么做滨江网站优化怎么做服务好的餐饮行业网站优化公司网站诊断及优化报告网站优化的阶段清远市网站seo优化哪家好规模大的网站优化与推广热线网站优化服务创新百度网站结构优化主要做什么济源优惠网站优化公司电话360网站优化论坛铝业网站seo优化服务b2b行业平台网站优化搜索引擎设计网站优化亳州百度网站优化哪家正规购物网站如何推广优化姚安网站优化价格网站优化的操作要点驻马店网站关键词优化网站页面的优化包括什么绩溪优化型网站怀化网站优化哪家值得信赖网站建设优化氖厥云速捷好阝网站关键词排名优化网址知名网站优化公司推荐惠州网站搜索引擎优化公司焦作营销网站快速排名优化技巧阜阳市企业网站优化网站优化细节怎么做网站建设优化由此云速捷省力哪里有网站优化费用光谷企业网站优化关键词的方法东台网站优化多少钱丽水优化网站价格眉山网站优化价格荥阳网站优化方案企业网站排名优化唯独金手指手机网站优化排名首页网站打开时间慢怎么优化中山机电网站优化软件泸州百度网站优化运营周口网站优化公司网站优化排名技术优化网站怎么选取关键词临清企业网站优化制作公司快照对网站优化有什么作用珠海网站快速排名优化网站单页面优化方法有哪些郑州三亚营销型网站优化系统济南网站关键词排名优化公司宿迁网站推广优化济南艾乎网站优化正规优化网站菏泽品牌网站优化公司邯郸网站优化哪家靠谱提高营销型网站优化海城网站优化服务商荆州浙江网站优化建站网站内部优化十大技巧soho网站优化网站排名优化问询易速达准格尔旗网站seo优化大连好的服务行业网站优化常州网站优化方案网站加二维码对优化好吗永州pc网站建设优化新吴网站排名优化软件顺义网站关键字优化网站排名优化需要多少钱长岭网站优化昆明优化网站公司长官网站设计建设优化潜山网站优化定做温州网站seo优化排名公司安丘网站优化开户宁夏网站优化教程汉川网站排名优化公司网站排名优化甄选乐云seo商城网站优化收费湖州正规专业网站seo优化徐州网站优化营商环境广东服务网站优化公司淄博优化网站哪家专业网站优化 psseo优化网站域名有什么影响河北优化网站公司南京网站优化费用公司的网站优化哪家好北京测试网站优化设计静安网站优化多少费用宜兴市网站单词优化贵阳网站seo排名优化开平网站优化代理晋州市网站优化保定网站排名优化哪家好高埗网站优化哪家好优化网站怎么提升流量家电网站seo优化案例金川区网站seo优化排名惠山区个人网站优化软件哪个好都匀网站优化推广seo石首市网站seo优化网站建设优化服务流程长春规模大的网站优化推广建安网站优化有效果吗平谷外贸网站推广优化宝鸡网站优化排行亭湖网站优化哪家好教育网站seo优化网站优化pe板关键词莱阳网站关键词优化西宁网站排名优化常德网站排名优化怎么做静海网站优化哪家便宜项城外贸网站优化价格沧州网站整站优化公司新泰网站seo优化石景山网站排名优化推广网站优化好还是软件好唐山网站搜索优化智能优化图片的网站综合网站优化营销英语网站seo优化河南整站网站优化网站优化版本平湖商城网站优化武汉网站优化的标准网站性能优化的瓶颈曹县专业网站优化报价谷歌网站优化推广授权商张家港优化网站用什么程序做网站好优化百度排名网站优化原平公司网站优化隰县网站seo优化排名网站seo优化靠谱的有哪家株洲网站优化营商网站优化 购买外链 效果崇义seo网站优化网站优化架设临猗网站优化什么价格怎么用关键词优化网站凌海网站搜索引擎优化优化网站学什么技能唐山公司网站优化南通怎么优化网站网站优化蜘蛛规定网站优化效果预期目标宿豫区网站优化哪家好外贸型网站seo优化江西网站优化公司荥阳企业网站优化江津企业网站优化婺城外贸网站优化东台网站优化多少钱郑州做优化网站建设德阳企业网站优化哪家好都江堰网站优化