Outline Format - Perhaps most common format for a site map is a simple outline. This is most similar to table of contents of a book, with everything listed from top to bottom in a specific order.

This format is most useful for smaller, less complicated sites (under a hundred pages) with a straightforward design. The main disadvantage is that as your site grows, site map grows and takes longer to load into your visitors browsers. It is, however, by far easiest of all for your visitors to grasp and understand, as your entire site is presented on a single page in a logical manner.

Multi-column outline - Many web sites use this format. It is similar to Outline format, but with several columns. It has same advantages and disadvantages as outline format, although it can be slightly more confusing to your visitors.

Portal Format - This format consists of a main page which indexes additional pages, which may in turn index additional pages. Thus your main page may consist of overall general contents, with links to more specific contents. This format is most useful for very large sites or sites with complicated organizations. It is a little more difficult for your visitors as it requires more clicks to move around, but it is better than Outline format for large sites.

JavaScript and other formats - Some webmasters like to use JavaScript or Java applets to make their site maps very fancy. I would recommend against this, as they are far less intuitive than a simple outline or portal format. In addition, you can be reasonably sure that a straight HTML outline will display on anyone's browser - JavaScript or Java may be restricted by many users.

No matter what you decide, important thing to remember is to make it easy on your visitors. They are reason why you created your web site, after all, and easier you make it for them to get around, more they will explore and more you will meet goals you made when you created your site.

If you don't design pages yourself, make sure you closely WATCH your web developer -- professional graphic designers are notorious for producing bloated sites (which in turn fail to produce sales). Ask him (or her) to optimize every image to keep loading time of your key pages below 20 seconds, even on those slower modems. Yahoo loads up in 6 second -- believe it or not, that's your competition!

The bottom line? Keep in mind that only when your visitors stay, your sales can grow!