Landing Pages, custom microsites, CLPs: No matter what you call them, having a highly targeted Web destination for your campaign improves your marketing. But to have a truly successful landing page, you'll need to develop these seven habits:

1. Look sexy with beautiful design

Our first experience with a product is in the way it looks and makes us feel. Each aspect of the product—its shape, the curves on the handles, the colors—is trying to connect with you on an emotional level. That's why companies spend millions of dollars creating prototypes, running focus groups and testing usability to create that connection with their potential customers. A custom landing page is the same: It tells the user that you respect their time and designed something of value. Design them well, because that's the first experience that your customers will have with your product or service. If you don't deliver an "a-ha" moment, you're history.

2. Know who NOT to market to

Identify and segment your target audience. It's almost "de-marketing" because you're carefully un-selecting the prospects that don't fit your target. Remember the 4 P's of marketing: product, promotion, price and place. Let’s add a fifth “P” for prospect.

3. Make thoughtful offers

A great thoughtful offer acts as a catalyst in generating responses and conversions. When possible, consider a two-step offer process in which you offer the customer a soft return (say a whitepaper download or an ROI calculator) in return for their phone number and/or an e-mail address. Then, follow-up with a tangible return (perhaps a $50 gift card or a digital camera) in exchange for additional information.

Your offer should:

• Have perceived value
• Create a sense of urgency (Buy Now, Offer Expires)
• Be relevant to your audience

4. Ask relevant questions

What's the ideal number of questions on custom landing pages? Is it four? How will my responses be affected if I ask seven questions? What about nine? The number of questions is less important than the relevancy of the questions—unless, of course, you ask 20 questions, in which case, you need to dial-it down.

As you ponder which questions to ask on your next campaign, ask yourself:

Is the question relevant to my campaign?

I was at the doctor's the other day getting tested for flu, and one of the questions on the form was "Do you wear seat belts?" Had I encountered that question online, I wouldn't have responded.

Would I be comfortable providing this information?

If you are selling flashlights, don't ask the person for their social security number to complete the purchase. The two questions that still make most users really uncomfortable when responding are: Date of Birth and SSN. Outside of a few sites—like credit reporting agencies—no one should be asking for this information. It’s just not worth capturing if you don’t have to.

What am I going to do with this information?

Lastly, ask yourself how the information will be processed, who will be responsible for safeguarding it, and will it even be used? Will you use it to personalize the next program and make it more effective? Or, is it going to live someplace where no one will see it for weeks, months or ever? If you don't plan to ACT on the information, don't ask!

5. Personalize the content

With the amount of information we have collected on prospects and what's available through other third party resources, you'd have to go out of your way to un-personalize your campaigns. Personalization also has the added benefit of achieving better conversion rates. It shows that you're not just delivering content but only content that's relevant and customized to their taste and preferences.

6. Use action-packed buttons

Using action-oriented text on buttons has shown to dramatically increase conversion rates. If you have a whitepaper to offer, rather than using something generic like “Submit," use “Download the Whitepaper NOW!” as the button text. You may even use some humor in your buttons, as appropriate. Button colors play an important role as well. Learn more about the different personalities associated with each color.

7. Provide great content

Last, but not the least, when you are building custom landing pages, make sure the content is relevant to the subject and resonates with your user. Although the first six habits play a large role, ultimately, what the customer wants is relevant content. You may attract a lot of users to your landing page, but if your content is weak, you won’t see any repeat visitors. It will result in increased bounce rates and lower performance.

OPEN Cardmember Nirmal Parikh is the Founder & CEO of Digital Wavefront, a Boston-based technology-driven company with a performance-focused approach to marketing. He frequently provides expert ideas, unfiltered opinions and best practices at blog.digitalwavefront.com.