You only need ranger 6 for the combat stuff. The level 7 ranger are weak.
I would do ranger 6(for imp prcise) Then fighter the rest of way. Depending the archtype you go with you can do a vast amount of things, plus weapon damages.
honestly, if you're using a crossbow, stop doing that and get a bow instead. Strength to damage is worth it, as long as you make sure to keep it relatively high.
Also, Deadly Aim if you don't already have it.
If you want to play an effective and awesome crossbowman, play a gunslinger with the Bolt Ace archetype
It is the best option to play a dedicated crossbow character, you could even dip or multiclass to Ranger if you think it fits your concept better, with 5 levels of Bolt Ace you will have enough cheese to be very good in your choosen fighting stile.
If you play a human, a recommended level progression would look like this:
1 - Crossbow Maven, Grit, Deeds (Sharp Shot, Vigilant loading, Gunslinger's dodge), Point blank shot, Rapid reload (Light crossbow)
2 - Nimble +1
3 - Deeds (Gunslinger Initiative, Pistol-Whip, Shoter's Resolve), Precise shot
4 - Bonus feat: Rapid shot
5 - Crossbow Training (Ligth Crossbow), Deadly Aim
With this, you have all the essential ranged feats, can shot as fast as a bow, add your Dex to damage, and your critical is upgraded to x3. You also have the grit feature and a few deed tricks.
From this point, you can stay as a single class, as the Bolt Ace gets some pretty nice things later, or should you decided to multiclass, I would recommend Ranger, as it gets the styles, and later some nice support spells, as well as the favored enemy.
About the ranged sneak attack, is generally not a good idea. The only "reliable" way to do so is going with greater invisibility, but by the time you can get it frequently, there is lot of ways to counter it. Your best bet is to pile as much base damage as you can, and not rely on the sneak attack damage to back up your potencial.
improved precise removes all cover bonuses except complete.
If you have a buddy in the way of your shot -4 to hit(that is like blur 20% miss chance) They are around a corner and have coverand behind a bush and can only see traces of them? No, problem.
Although if you want to be really powerful a higher levels go straight ranger, and instant enemy.
Take the trait gnoll killer and cast instant enemy to smoke things. Instant enemy is a level 3 spell though and well beyond your level currently.
You can use a wand to cast the spell but it is a standard action to do so instead of a swift for casting it.
High hit chance doesn't help you if, as you said you were experiencing, you don't deal damage. 1d8+7 is low damage, no ifs or buts about it. Get some damage weapon enhancements, like Corrosive, Shocking etc, instead of +'s.
Also, get some arrows +1 bane vs things you expect to be fighting a lot.
And dump some dexterity for strength. Where you are currently at (lots of accuracy, lots of attacks, piddly damage) +1 damage is worth +1 to hit, for sure.
If you don't already have deadly aim, take it.
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High hit chance doesn't help you if, as you said you were experiencing, you don't deal damage. 1d8+7 is low damage, no ifs or buts about it. Get some damage weapon enhancements, like Corrosive, Shocking etc, instead of +'s..
This is actually very bad advice. A straight enchantment bonus gives +1 to hit and +1 damage, which is roughly equivalent to +3 damage that is never resisted. Corrosive and it's like give +3.5 average damage, and are commonly resisted. Add to that that higher enhancement bonuses allow you to bypass DR (although DT isn't that much of an issue with clustered shots).
Use deadly aim, and a wand of instant enemy is expensive, but it is a massive damage spike that is available before 10th level.