XML Sitemap that updates daily/weekly?

[WillBlackburn]

Hi,

I have a sitemap on my site, that updates but it isn't a XML sitemap. See here: http://www.designerboutique-online.com/sitemap/

I have used some free software to crawl the site and create a sitemap of pages, however I think that if I were to upload the sitemap, it would be out of date as soon as I listed new products on the site, so would need to rerun it.

Does anyone know how I can get this to refresh daily or weekly?

Or any software that can do it?

I have a web firm that are willing to do one, but our relationship is at an all time low and I don't want to hand over £200 for them to do one.

Anyone with any ideas or advice?

Thanks

Will

[ShaMenz]

Hi Will,

The time required for installation and testing could vary according to whether there are compatibility issues to resolve on the server.

As an example - if we were to install an updated version of Wordpress for a client, that could be a 5 minute job, but the new version requires an updated version of PHP on the server and the age and configuration of the server may require patching (or even moving to a newer server) in order to install the correct version of PHP.

Then, with all of the software updated and the new version of WP installed, we would need to check and test the installation to ensure that the template is still good and nothing has broken.

So, a 5 minute job could easily turn into a 1 or 2 hour job and the need for the additional work will only become known when the installation is attempted (sucks to be us sometimes!)

For this reason, most web development companies will probably quote you a minimum of an hour to do the work. Having said that, the hourly rate you have quoted would be considered extremely high by our company.

I hope that helps,

Sha

[WillBlackburn]

Basically no one wants to touch the site, so were stuck with them for now.

They have come back to me with £100 for an hours work of testing the script, because they do not know what it contains.

How long does it take to install on server and do what you have to do to test it?

They are ripping us off, I know they are.

Cheers

[ShaMenz]

Hi Will,

Ouch! That is a lot of money for what should be a straightforward task.

I think you may have missed what I said earlier in that the Unlimited version of XML-Sitemaps is ONLY available as a server install. You do not get a piece of software that enables you to generate the sitemaps externally and upload them.

There are other services around that enable you to generate externally via a web interface and upload. The paid version of freesitemapgenerator.com is one of these, but does require a verification file to be uploaded to the server before it can run. It is a simple text file that verifies ownership of the site.

In the end, if you are not happy with the service you are getting, you have the option to find another web development company who are a better fit for you. If you decided to do that, then the new company should be able to negotiate the change with the old company to minimize disruption.

It makes me a little sad to hear of clients who feel the way you do and I'm sorry that you have had a bad experience with our industry. Thankfully, there are plenty of good companies out there if you should decide that the situation is untenable for your business. For most of us, making things right for a customer who has not had the best of it is a priority.

I hope you can work it out without too much more stress

Sha

[WillBlackburn]

Hi, thanks for that. The reason I do not want to go with the company is because I think they are taking me for a ride. The website they designed is a rip off, over paid and under delivered. Something like this should have been included when it was set up, they quoted me £1200 to install PayPal as a checkout option, whereas a highly respected e-commerce designer firm quoted me £250.

It is not 2 hours work for them, no way. I would be happy with just using my defined update schedule, maybe every 3 days would be sufficient, even once a week is fine.

I have asked them can they upload etc.. so I will see what they say. I am more than likely to buy the software, generate myself and then they can upload it.

I mean, what harm can doing it myself do? It will work, it will deliver, just the same as it would if the web firm done it. As I see the only benefit of using the firm is so can put in fancy update features.

Thanks for your input.

Cheers

Will

[ShaMenz]

Hi Will,

If their preference is to write their own script it is likely that they EITHER have had previous experience with a 3rd party script which proved difficult to configure OR they intend to add features or changes which would require a hack anyway.

As I see it you have 3 options:

1. Accept their offer to write a custom script. Given the fluid nature of your update schedule, the advantage of this would be that they may be able to add a "manual fire" option. This would  effectively give you the ability to click a button and manually generate sitemaps (xml & html) and ping the search engines if you make updates more frequently than the auto-run schedule. If this were the case, the script could be configured to run weekly and you could update as needed.

2. You could ask them to install and configure the 3rd party script for you instead of using theirs. Given their preference for writing their own script, it is likely they may have internal issues which would influence whether they are willing or able to do this.

3. IF your site has less than 500 pages you could run the free version whenever products are updated and email the xml sitemap to your web development company for upload. While the use of the generator is free, the company is likely to set a fee for this service. Although a file upload is a very simple task, it can be very disruptive to production schedules to have to do this if it happens often. As a project manager I well understand the issues that this kind of small task can cause. I generally end up doing them myself because the company resources required to allocate and track the task are more than it is worth. End up with two or three clients who want a file uploaded once or twice a week and the novelty can wear off very quickly!

If it were me I would work from the assumption that the company has valid reasons for preferring to write a custom script and just ask them to explain it for you. What will the script do? How will it work? What are the benefits for you and for them?

In the end, you will need to make a judgement on what will be best for your business. If you can repair your relationship with the existing company there is no danger of disruption to your business through server change etc. Disruption can be avoided or minimized if sites are moved , but this requires co-operation from your current company and parting on a poor relationship sometimes doesn't inspire co-operation

Hope that helps,

Sha

[WillBlackburn]

They said they would be writing a script so the £200 is 2 hours work for them.

They will not provide me with FTP details, so all edits go through them. Only if I take the site away from their hosting will I have access to FTP.

What would you advise? Is the XML completely fine with that software and all the web design company would need to do is have it refreshed every week?

What refresh frequency would I be best having, daily, weekly? We have new products more than likely 1 or 2 times a week.

T

[ShaMenz]

Hi Will,

You can just pay for the script and have your web company install it on the server. If you want to have it create image sitemap in addition to page structure sitemap there is a $5 image sitemaps add-on. So cost for both would be $24.99 US dollars plus whatever your web company charges to install the script.

To get the XML-sitemaps people to install it, all you have to do is provide them with your ftp login information. The advantage of this is that they know the script and how everything needs to be configured to make it work correctly.

Once the script is installed it will auto generate the sitemaps as scheduled (you would get them to configure frequency when they install it). Each time new sitemaps are generated the script then pings the search engines to notify that new sitemap is available for download.

The unlimited version only works as a server install. If you have less than 500 pages in your site you can run the free version and upload as often as you wish for no cost at all (as long as you have ftp access).

Not sure what the 200 pounds price is for, but my guess would be that they are either planning to write a script for you OR buy a 3rd party script like XML-Sitemaps & install & configure it for you.

Hope that helps,

Sha

[WillBlackburn]

Hi, the server is owned by the people who designed the site, so they host it. So I would need to get them to put it up.

How would XML-Sitemaps handle the installation if it is on the web companies server? Would they be able to?

If I can get the XML file ready, then I am sure the web company would upload it for free or maybe a small charge.

Let me ask you this to see if I am reading you correctly.

If I buy that software (of which I used the free version to generate 500 lines), it will create a sitemap for me, then once hosted on the server, will update everytime a new product/page is added to the site? Once updated it pings Google etc...?

Would it be worth including the images in the sitemap, as we have over 1000 images on the site, maybe 3-5 images per product. Would that then enable us to get our images into google images a lot easier?

Do you know what the difference between me using this and uploading it to server and paying a web design company £200 to do everything? Is there any?

Cheers

Will

[ShaMenz]

Hi Will,

There are several companies out there which provide paid sitemap generation services by installing a script on your server which is set to automatically generate sitemaps and to ping the search engines whenever a new sitemap completes.

Probably one of the best that I know is the unlimited version offfered by XML-Sitemaps.com. The cost is only US$20 and if you cannot install it yourself they will handle installation for an extra $10.

There are others around and may even be some free scripts out there if you have the ability to install on your own server. There are also modules etc available for standard ecommerce platforms like Oscommerce etc.

Hope that helps,

Sha