A mailing list can be a big plus for your online business. With a dedicated effort on your part to your list there is no reason that you couldn't mailing list make money on the internet. With a targeted list to mail to you can really save a load of time by marketing any new services to this existing list. You can build up your list of prospects that are interested in your products by offering free downloads that should be of interest to them on your website.
If you have surfed the web for any length of time at all you will be able to attest to that. I know you have see those advertisements where they entice you to click the link for free stuff and that will lead you to their selling page. It is just a good mailing list marketing tactic that has been very successful. The free download does not have to be any thing huge it just needs to be something that will be beneficial to your potential customers like a free report, a free wallpaper, or so on.
It is extremely important that your download is interesting enough that they will want to know more about what it is your promoting and they are willing to give their email address to you. If you put the time and effort into this area of marketing mailing list it can be a big windfall. That is why it is very important to show your visitors why they should download your freebie. They still need to be led to believe that they can not in no circumstances do without what you are about to show them.