According to SplashData, the key is using at least 12 characters with a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and characters, besides having different passwords for every website you log on to.
A hacker takes less than 10 minutes to crack a lowercase password that has 6 alphabets. In comparison, if you add two more alphabets and a few uppercase letters, besides throwing in numbers and a few special characters, it would take them 44,530 years to crack it.