By now, most savvy Web marketers (and let's hope you're one of them) have woken up to the fact that directing a prospect to your home page - whether from a banner ad, e-mail campaign, direct mail program or whatever - is a great way to waste money.

The purpose of any direct marketing campaign that drives people to your Web site should be to generate a measurable response, one that enables the ongoing communication necessary to convert prospects into paying customers. Notwithstanding today's more sophisticated Web tracking technology, sending someone to your home page will likely generate little more than an anonymous "hit." What it won't do (at least not easily) is provide you the name and e-mail address of the person responding, and which list / ad / newsletter / campaign he or she came from.

The solution, therefore, is to use a specific, unique URL (for example, www.companyname.com/freeoffer) and Web response page for each campaign that will:

a) serve to quickly and easily determine the source of the lead; and

b) motivate the prospect to supply identifying information immediately.

1) Ideally, the first thing the person sees on the page should be a reply form, and little else. Don't re-sell the offer by littering your response page with selling copy. If you believe that prospects are likely to need more information before deciding to complete the form, then use links, but only as needed. (For example, a registration page for a trade show might include links to an exhibitor list, schedule of events, etc.) Just be sure those additional pages link back to the reply form and nowhere else.

2) Eliminate all other, non-campaign-specific links. This includes the usual "About Us," "Press," "Contact Us," etc. Inevitably, links like these will cause prospects not to fill in the reply form immediately but instead will prompt them to wander elsewhere on your site, never to be heard from again.

3) If appropriate, include a photo of the actual offer (ex: a CD-ROM, white paper, sweepstakes prize) on the page as a way of making the offer more "real" and reinforcing the person's decision to respond.

4) Keep the form short, with 3-4 qualifying questions maximum (in addition to name, e-mail address, etc.) Anything more and you risk trying the reader's patience. Use a multiple choice format, and ask questions in a friendly, non-intrusive tone (ex: "How often do you buy business gifts online?")