Step 1: You sign up to become an affiliate at Share-a-Sale (Click Here). Note: during the sign-up process, Share-A-Sale will ask you for your Tax I.D. number or your social security number. Why? Because you will be making money (hopefully a LOT of money, right?), so they have to report it to the I.R.S. for tax purposes.

Step 2: On your web site, you make a nice statement about Apogee Components and recommend visitors to buy rockets from us. (hint: For more sales, a "text" endorsement is recommended). You can also put a banner ad on your site, which isn't quite as good as a text statement from you personally. But some folks prefer banner ads.

The URL link you put on the "Click Here" or the banner ad will take visitors back to Share-a-Sale web site, which then relays them to the Apogee Components home page. During this process, Share-A-Sale puts a cookie on their browser, so it can track the customer, and it knows that the recommendation came from your web site.

Step 3: In this step, Apogee sells the customer one or more of our great products. The sale is recorded by Share-a-Sale, and they determine how much commission you make on the sale. You make a commission only when a sale is made. So be sure to make a good recommendation on your web site (see below for some helpful hints).

Step 4: At the end of the month, Share-A-Sale sends you a check for your commissions.

There are many good reasons. The most important is that they provide "Third-Party" verification. That way, no one (particularly you) gets cheated out of a commission check. The have a very sophisticated tracking system that matches each sale to the person that made the recommendation. But from your perspective, they pay monthly, and on time. You want your money, don't you?

The Share-a-Sale company has been in the affiliate program business for quite some time. They have over 700 merchants in their system and thousands of affiliate partners. Their sole purpose is to provide commission tracking and payment services. This means you can trust them to give accurate tracking of commissions, and timely payout of your cash.

For our part, it takes the burden off us of providing individual checks to potentially hundreds of affiliate partners -- along with filing all the tax forms with the Internal Revenue Service. We are a small company and are not set up to write lots of checks. All we have to do is write one (big) check to Share-a-Sale, and they write all the smaller ones to the affiliate partners. They do collect a fee from us -- NOT from you. It is FREE for you to become an affiliate partner.

Almost... But not quite everyone...

First, you have to have your own web site with a domain name. That is a requirement of Share-A-Sale. One of those freebie web sites from Yahoo won't cut it. Sorry. Part of the sign-up process is that we do have to check out your web site to approve you as an affiliate partner.

From our perspective, Apogee Components is looking to increase our customer base. We don't want current customers to sign up to become a affiliate just to get a discount for themselves on Apogee merchandise. We do give out discounts on occasion to subscribers of our e-zine newsletter, so we encourage you to sign up today for that.

We do encourage the following people to sign up:

Hobby Stores: Not every store in the country has the shelf space to stock our products. So this gives them a risk-free way to make money on our great items without having to inventory them.

Internet Merchants: It has been a policy of Apogee Components that our products can only be sold on the internet by our own web site. But with this Affiliate Program, we welcome Internet Merchants to join and make money by becoming our partner.

Rocketry Clubs: This is a great way for clubs to make money to cover their own monthly expenses. You can buy things like launch equipment, or use the money to make a donation to the Rocketry Legal Defense fund. Your Choice! Do with the money as you wish -- you've earned it!

Boy Scouts and Youth Groups: Like the rocketry clubs, this is a "no-brainer" way to make money. It doesn't cost you anything, and you don't have to go door-to-door selling popcorn or cookies. Let us give you a commission check instead.

Schools & Science Clubs: Over the years, we've been asked to donate money or rockets to schools. But this is a win-win situation for everyone. You get the cash you need, and we get new customers.

Space and Aviation Web Sites - If you have a web site that gets a lot of traffic, such as a space-themed news or information web site, you can convert some of that traffic to cash by recommending visitors come to see us for their rocketry needs.

There are two ways. First, increase the number of visitors you send to the Apogee Components web site. You can do this by putting the endorsement on your main home page, and in a prominent location so it is easily seen. In other words, if no ones sees the link, they won't click on it. So put it where people will see it!

Second: Pre-sell you site's visitors on our products before they get here. In other words, get them in the buying mood so when they come to the Apogee web site, they have a burning desire to acquire our products.

You accomplish this by providing a good endorsement. It is your web site, so your visitors already trust you. But if you don't urge them to make a purchase, they probably won't. It is the words you use in the recommendation that encourage people to buy. That is why your "text" works much better than a banner advertisement. A banner advertisement doesn't have the same effect as an endorsement coming out of your mouth.

When you write your endorsement, you can mention things like:

1. First of all, don't forget to sign your name. Without that, it is a no-name advertisement that carries no weight.
   
   
2. How much you've personally purchased from us in the past and what you plan on buying next time.
   
   
3. How well Apogee treats its customers and responds quickly to requests.
   
   
4. How you've fallen in love with a specific product of ours.
   
   
5. How you feel that Apogee is different from other rocketry suppliers and is worthy of your endorsement.
   
   
6. How you are planning on spending the commission check, and why it is important that they buy now instead of later.
   
   
7. Tell about other happy people that have clicked on the link and bought from us.
   
   
8. Remind them of the birthday or Christmas present they need to buy for one of their
   loved-ones.

Your endorsement is the key item that will determine how many people click on the link and actually buy from us. The more work you put into it, the bigger your commission check.

Not one cent. It is free.

Click here for more information on becoming an affiliate.

"I wanted to thank you for the great service on orders. I should be used to it, but I'm always pleasantly surprised by the speed of order processing and shipping from Apogee. My most recent order arrived yesterday, the same day the charge posted to my account!

Thanks again, I really appreciate a vendor who has such a high commitment to customer satisfaction." -- Kevin Johnson