By now you know studies show the average person will only wait 7 seconds for a webpage to load. You've optimized your webpages for speed and they load quickly. Now you have the challenge of engaging that site visitor and keeping them on the page. To get an idea of what it takes to keep somone on a page think back to your own surfing habbits. There are millions upon millions of webpages out there. The average person knows this so they go into kind of a scanning mode rather than a reading mode. In fact, another study shows the average web surfer will only scan the page for 3 to 4 seconds before determining whether they're on the right page. Here are 3 things you can do to help your site visitors stick around.

1. Write a concise headline across the top of your page.

Once people get to your page they're not going to read every bit of text. It's actually quite the opposite. A new study shows when more words are added to a webpage the people visiting the website actually end up reading a smaller percentage of the content on the page. In other words if you jam pack a page full of text the vistor becomes overwhelmed at moves on.

A simple way to avoid this is to make your webpage read like a newspaper. Newspapers always start out with their headline in big, bold letters across the top of the page. You need to do the same. Make it absolutely clear in your headline what your website is all about. For example_ If you're selling golf equipment maybe your headline would read "The Best Prices On Name Brand Golf Equipment". Once the visitor reads that headline they're going to know they're on the right page. It's only at that point they will be intrigued to read in more detail.

2. Use bullet points and white space.

If you've pulled off the headline chances are your visitors will keep reading. But don't make the mistake of overwhelming them. Carefully select 3 bullet points you want to convey to every person who comes to your website. If you list those on the page in large, easy to read text and surround them with plenty of white space there eyes will pick up on it while skimming the page and they'll digest the information. Avoid using long paragraphs and make sure everything on your page has a purpose. If you're just putting information out there to fill up the page you're barking up the wrong tree. You're going to need every bit of that real estate.

3. Include a video.

Most people don't like to read. After all reading requires concentration and we live in a short attention span world. People do love to watch vidoes. Especially videos that are interesting and engaging. One of the best ways to keep people engaged is to give them a video to watch. The video can be about your company, a product, a service, a demo. Really just about anything. The bottom line is people will stay on your page longer and be more likely to take the next step if you present them with a video.

By applying these techniques you'll be building a webpage that gets results. But these steps are just the beggining. Once you've captured your audience's attention you'll want to direct them to take the next step. I'll be covering that in the next section.

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