Getting new visitors to your website is only half the battle. The challenge is keeping them there. You want your site to be “sticky” – that is, you want them to stick around long enough to get to know your business and its offerings… and to eventually convert from browsers to buyers.

Put yourself in your potential customers’ shoes. What are their needs/wants? What are your competitors doing to attract – and keep – visitors on their sites?

Statistics show that visitors often leave a web page after 10 to 20 seconds. You’ve got to grab their attention, and fast. Let’s look at some ways you can combat site abandonment:

Lancôme uses a lightbox to encourage email signs-ups.

Lancôme also uses a sort of “pop-in” for an instant discount.

#1. Use pop-ups with discretion

Many sites use a lightbox on the home page to prompt email signups. Pop-ups such as this can be an instant turn-off to site visitors. You’ve got to determine if the pluses of such a tactic (more email subscribers) outweigh the minuses. You usually can’t go wrong with instant offers, for instance.

#2. 3-click rule?

This unofficial rule of web design says that website visitors should be able to reach their desired content in no more than three clicks. Another interpretation is that everything on your site should be accessible within three clicks from your home page. In any case, the pros and cons of this “rule” have been hotly debated by industry professionals. The key takeaway, however, is that your site must be easy to navigate; if it’s difficult for your visitors to find content, they will bail.

#3. Let ’em link

It may sound obvious, but don’t forget to link to other areas on your site. An e-commerce site, for example, can include links to customer reviews, related products, product use/care and more. An informational site can include links to FAQs. A corporate site can include links to news releases, media mentions, investor information, etc. And don’t overlook links within the content itself. Hyperlink keywords to other areas on your site; you might want to open these links in a new browser window or tab so that your visitors don’t lose their place, so to speak.

#4. The need for speed

According to research by Radware, the median time for a page to load content is 4.9 seconds. While Google reports that web page load times have improved, Web Performance Today found just the opposite. Images can be a culprit, contributing to large page sizes and slower load times. To avoid image overload, make sure your images are compressed and correctly formatted. Video, too, can be a problem – that’s why it’s usually better to host the video on another site/server.

#5. Don’t forget mobile

Page load times for mobile leave a lot to be desired. According to Google statistics, the average mobile browser page takes 7 seconds to load. In the online world, that’s an eternity. Buh-bye. Your site also should be mobile optimized; what works on a desktop screen just won’t cut it for mobile.

#6. Multimedia

Relax, it’s not that complicated. You don’t have to be a Hollywood producer to produce quality multimedia. You can show a video of how to use a product, include an audio clip of a trade show presentation, link to customer videos on YouTube (on your own channel, of course), share a podcast, re-broadcast a webinar.

#7. Make it interactive

Conduct a survey, run a contest or sweepstakes, ask for product/service reviews, seek suggestions for new products/services or names for new products, start a blog and encourage comments. Whatever you do, get your visitors to engage and interact.

#8. Make it personal

One way to deliver relevant content is to personalize the web page for visitors. Use cookies to deliver content based on past behavior. If a customer or prospect arrives at your site via one of your emails, you can use data to serve up a “personalized” page. It could be based on gender, geography, and more. It could be as simple as having different pages for B2B and B2C customers or online vs. store shoppers.

#9. Get social

Chances are if someone is online, they’re checking out their social networks while browsing your site. Make it easy for them to share your content – include social sharing widgets.

#10. One bad link can spoil the whole bunch

Online visitors tend to be unforgiving. Once they come across a broken link on your site, poof – they’re gone. If you find the task of checking links daunting, you can use one of several free web-based link-checking sites. Or if you are familiar with Ahrefs SEO Report tool, the quickest way to spot out bad link is to look up for pages with 4XX response code (SEO Reports > Create SEO Reports >Accessibility> Response Codes).  So there’s no excuse.

#11. Content

Last but certainly not least; you’ve got to have engaging content. This is what can distinguish you from your competitors. We all know the current buzz phrase, “Content is king.” I say “Content is key.” Having relevant content on your site is crucial. However, you’ve got to keep it fresh. If returning visitors find stale content on your site, do you really think they’ll come back?

As with any online strategy, it pays to test. Take your email subscribers to different landing pages from your promotional emails. Mix up the imagery, content, offers and calls to action on your site. Find out what works, what doesn’t, and re-adjust your strategy as needed.

If you’re lucky, you’ll end up with a “sticky” situation online.