Basic implementation to register a new sidebar in WordPress (place in functions.php)

functions.php

if (function_exists('register_sidebar')) {
  register_sidebar(array(
    'name' => __('Sidebar Widgets','themename' ),
    'id'   => 'sidebar-widgets',
    'description'   => __( 'These are widgets for the sidebar.','themename' ),
    'before_widget' => '<div id="%1$s" class="widget %2$s">',
    'after_widget'  => '</div>',
    'before_title'  => '<h2>',
    'after_title'   => '</h2>'
  ));
}