The biggest challenge for web marketers, brand managers and organizations targeting at more sales and brand loyalty via Web is engaging their website visitors. By engaging, we mean getting website visitors to spend time on the website and get involved in it. The ultimate purpose is, of course, conversion.

What most marketers and brand promoters miss is the fact that the goal should not be keeping website visitors (prospects) engaged with ‘cool’ graphics; the goal should be getting website visitors to involve, and understand the message, and become a customer. There is no denying that good a copy, decent color scheme and attractive graphics grab the attention of website visitors but what makes them stay or come back to the website is something else. ‘Something else’ – that creates the desire to know more about the brand or own the product.

This post is intended to give you an insight into ‘something else’ that works.

The foremost step is tracking your visitors. Use Google Analytics or whatever tracking tool you prefer to track the number of visitors and the gap between new and returning visitors. Set goal values (for example, 1 new sign up against every 100 new visitors) and set a target for, say, the next quarter. Once you get raw statistics of visitors, you are ready to move on and experiment with your website to achieve your targets.

The next step is starting conversations. Make is super easy for visitors to leave their feedback or comments. Whether you have a blog or a website, you should allow visitors to get involved by participating in a conversation or initiating a new thread. Remove barriers. Website visitors should not be required to create an account to leave comment. Allow them to use their twitter, facebook or Google account to get authenticated and participate in conversations.

Allow your website visitors to use their existing profiles like Google or facebook to join or sign up. If you must register them with you, avoid long registration forms. Ask only for the information that you would really need.

Allow your website visitors to stay up-to-date with your products, offerings or activities. Allow them to subscribe via RSS or follow you on facebook, twitters and other social networks. Also use Google Friend Connect, a very useful but a bit unappreciated tool.

Maintain a consistent and compelling twitter stream or Facebook updates on your facebook fan page to keep your fans, customers and prospects in the loop.

Offer useful content – not just informative articles or breaking news but practical and useful content that your website visitors would love to download or use online. It could be a freebie, online service, royalty free images, printable cards or anything that relates to your business.

Reward your customers or users with a royalty program or other offerings that compel them to use your products/services and recommend them to others.

Use crowd sourcing techniques to engage your website visitors and existing customers to help you decide new offerings or even the redesign of your logo or website. It makes them a part of the team and the sense of a connection with the brand.

Make your website or blog easy to navigate, good on eyes and tasteful to read.

These are just a few ideas. We would like to hear more useful tips from you. Why not leave a comment and share your best tips?