One of the quickest ways to create an XML sitemap for your WordPress blog is to use a WordPress plugin.
Since you are reading this post I can only assume that 1) you know what an XML file is and 2) why it is necessary for you to have a sitemap for your website.
Therefore the only question left to answer is how do you go about creating one.
Finding a suitable sitemap plugin
I know there are a lot of sitemap plugins to choose from, but the plugin I use is called Google XML Sitemaps. And the easiest way for you to install this plugin is to follow these simple steps.
Note: Don’t be put off by the number of steps in the process, once you learn how to install one plugin, it’s the same process to install all plugins.
Step 1) Go to Add New in the dashboard side menu as shown in the picture below.
Step 2) Use the search function and enter in the name of the plugin.
Step 3) Now click ‘Install Now’ to install the plugin.
Step 4) You will be asked for your ftp details, so just enter them in as shown below.
Step 5) Once you have done this, you will need to make sure that the follow files exist on your server. Note: this is not always required, and is dependent on the security settings of your server. If they are not there then just create them using the names in the picture below (i.e.) sitemap.xml and sitemap.xml.gz , leave them blank, because the plugin will update them automatically.
The properties of the files need to be set also to writable which on some servers will be 0755 or 0777.
Step 6) Configure your basic settings as shown in the picture below.
Step 7) Change frequency settings to weekly as shown in the picture below.
Step 8) Change Priorities settings to 1.0 as shown in the picture below.
Then once you have them all set then click on rebuild at the top of the page and Google XML Sitemaps plugin will create the sitemap for you automatically.
As you create new posts Google XML Sitemaps will update automatically as well.