The development of bipartite reporter systems inC. eleganshas lagged by more than a decade behind its adoption in Drosophila, the other invertebrate model commonly used to dissect biological mechanisms. Here, we characterize many parameters that influence expression in recently developedC. elegansbipartite systems. We examine how DNA binding site number and spacing influence expression and characterize how these expression parameters vary in distinct tissue types. Furthermore, we examine how both basal promoters and 3’ UTR influence the specificity and level of expression. These studies provide both a framework for the rational design of driver and reporter transgenes as well as molecular and genetic tools for the creation, characterization, and optimization of bipartite system components for expression in other cell types.