Beginning internet marketers often struggle with the question "should I build a list?" This question can be answered by first determining ones online goals.
 Are you the marketer who wants to earn income right now, or would you prefer a steady stream of autopilot income? When you are deciding where to direct your traffic, you need to decide to send to a sales page or a squeeze page.
 A squeeze page will collect the names and email addresses of your visitors in exchange for more information.
 Once you have the name and email addresses of your visitors, you can then communicate with them through email for as long as they chose to be on your list.
If you have successfully use your mailings to build trust and establish a relationship with your subscribers, you will find that your list members will remain on your list for longer periods of time than if you simply send sales letter after sales letter.
In order to really establish your autopilot income, it might be a good idea to consider sending your relationship- building content email along with your sales letter at the same time.
 This can be accomplished best by simply adding a short sales letter at the bottom of your content rich mailing.
For example, if your list is in the "getting good at gaming" niche, you would send an email aimed at helping someone through a difficult section of a specific game but at the very end of the email, there would be a short message indicating that your reader could find more tips by checking out this book.
Then simply furnish your prospect with the link to your sales page.
  In this way, you can send your prospect to your sales page over and over again, rather than just once.
You too can build a list of eager subscribers who can't wait to receive your next email.
Its all about building a relationship with your subscribers.
I agree that we need to earn money from our list, but if earning money is your primary concern, it simply will not happen.