Content on my site? Or, in an e-book?

[brchap]

So, after some considerable keyword research using some tools suggested on this forum, I found a potentially profitable "sub-niche". Lot's of traffic... a reasonable amount of competition, etc.

I registered the domain name, loaded up Wordpress and started writing the first keyword-rich article. I haven't posted the article yet... just wrote it. I was a little hesitant to post it just yet, because it's a LONG article... about 3000 words of quality stuff... with a number of affiliate links.

So, basically, what I'm asking is:

Should I make the article into a free e-book for an opt-in, and just keep the blog posts very short? The advantage here would be that I would start building a good list from the start... the disadvantage is that I haven't even tested this niche very well yet, and I may just be spinning my wheels here.

Or, should I start out the blog with a bang, and make the long article a sticky post on the front page to draw people in. The advantage, of course would be that I can test the niche, test the conversion potential and get some traffic started. If the traffic looks good and I start making a little coin, I could write an e-book and set up the opt-in/autoresponder stuff. The disadvantage, of course, is that I may miss out on adding some subscribers from the start.

I'm open to suggestions.

[David Wolfman]

I would give them the ebook as incentive to opt in, but later:

I would place a link to online content (available only to subscribers ( make sure they know this)) in an email, this teaches the prospects to click on links in your emails.

Then I would deliver the online content in very attractive way that would make them want to come back for more next time. This serves also as a platform to advertise your other stuff and insert affiliate links.