It seems like the AdSense approach will turn a lot of folks off once they realize it's only a landing page.
I'm not a big fan of AdSense smoke testing, but if you're going to do it, you can fairly trivially raise perceived value above "landing page." Offer an immediate incentive for giving their email address.
For example, if you're going to offer software to automate X but haven't built it yet, offer to give people their own personal copy of your guide to X-ing (written by an X-ing expert). Just put in the email address we should send it to. P.S. Want to hear about our thoughts on X every week or two? Make with the clicky-clicky.
I'm not a big fan of AdSense smoke testing, but if you're going to do it, you can fairly trivially raise perceived value above "landing page." Offer an immediate incentive for giving their email address.
For example, if you're going to offer software to automate X but haven't built it yet, offer to give people their own personal copy of your guide to X-ing (written by an X-ing expert). Just put in the email address we should send it to. P.S. Want to hear about our thoughts on X every week or two? Make with the clicky-clicky.