Client: What can you do to make prospects spend more time on my website?
Me: I don't want them to spend more time on your website.
Client: Are you insane?
Carer: Could we move this along, I need to get him to the next appointment...
So, back to the point, striving to keep people on your website for longer times is not good for you or your customer. Unless your product is content such as a media outlet, your website should be designed to move customers to a next step. This could be to purchase directly or to get them to take some sort of action.
Time is a useful metric to measure the effectiveness of your website structure and content. For instance, the time it takes for customers to use a form and shopping cart. The less time taken here the better as many transactions are lost at the point of purchase due to cumbersome e-commerce systems.
The same applies to social media marketing. The number of post views or likes is not a measure of success. The number of people who take the next step is the only real measure. This could be to sign-up, learn more, buy now, call now, make a booking, download now or subscribe.
Change your thinking and approach to get better results. Always be looking for mechanisms and strategies to get prospects off your marketing platforms and onto the next step in your sales process.