Need tips for sitemap.htm

I am creating a sitemap webpage of my website (not a xml sitemap for Google
Sitemap), and I could need some advice on optimizing it for Google. It is a
real site map to be used by visitors, and it will be linked from the top of
my page. I would like make the most of it in terms of making my webpages
relevant for the relevant keywords and phrases and maybe add some pagerank
to my forum threads.

- Should I include the relevant phrases in the link text or in the text
descriping the link?
- Should I worry about keyword density for a sitemap?
- Should I be carefull to add too many pages to the sitemap? (I currently
have around 30 pages + the 200 latest threads in my forum)
- I plan on adding a little content on a column at the right of the page too
to make it look good. Is that a bad idea?

Any input or I-know-what-I-am-talking-about links would be highly
appreciated.