Is sending people directly to an affiliate site after they optin a good idea?

Question - Is sending people directly to the affiliate site a good idea or should I do something different?

Answer - I no longer like sending people to a sales page redirect after they optin, you can kill the relationship you are striving to build straight away. I send them to a thank you page with audio or a message telling them to confirm their email address and I'll give them another bonus when they do.

Then I send 'real' content for several messages with a slight mention of a product occasionally but no hard sell. Send them YouTube videos, articles you found interesting, links to other people's blog posts, etc just like a friend would.

Let them see that you are an expert with the great free advice and they will follow your advice when you offer them something to buy. Ask for and answer questions. These make great autoresponder content and show you are an expert and know your stuff even more.