Creating a Sitemap

It is vital to have a properly created xml sitemap for your website. This xml file is hosted in the root folder of your site and is used to inform Google what pages exist on your site and how important you consider them, and when they have been updated.

Free software exists to create an xml sitemap, the best of these is

http://gsitecrawler.com/ which guides you through the process.

The software will scan your site and find everypage that exists by following every link within your site. This has the added function of showing up and code errors, bad links etc.

Once you have created your sitemap, you can upload it in the format /sitemap.xml then you will need to go to Google Webmaster tools http://www.google.co.uk/webmasters/ and register your site and sitemap. You also get the chance to verify your website with Google by adding a metatag. This authenticates your access/ownership of the site.

Whenever you make new pages for your site, or add content you should recreate your xml sitemap and get Google to reread it. This will ensure that Google doesn't find your pages by chance, but knows exactly what to look for & where to find it.

The submission process needs to be duplicated with Yahoo also who have a similar process

https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/

This is the fastest way to get your site spidered, and will ensure that you keep the major SE's informed of your latest content and updates.