Black Friday Deals - How (and Where) to Find the BEST Black Friday Shopping Deals Online

While most of us in the U.S. are preparing for our annual Thanksgiving Day holiday feast, many shoppers are preparing themselves to score some serious Black Friday deals at their favorite stores - Best Buy, Macy's, Target, ToysRUs, Wal-Mart - the day after turkey day. But there's a growing group of very savvy shoppers who are foregoing getting up at an indecently early hour, fighting for parking and spending HOURS in line, to find as well as do their Black Friday shopping online.

So if the idea of finding the best deals online appeals to you, this article discusses what you need to know and what to do to find the Black Friday sales, offers and specials on the products you want.

The key to finding the best Black Friday deals this year is getting yourself organized! I know this sounds really simple, but it's the truth! Organize yourself and do your homework using your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone to do your homework now. The sooner you begin, the better position you will be in to take advantage of the top sales offers that are going to be available online this year.

Whether you're new to the game or an old pro, here are 5 smart shopper moves you should make right now to get the best Black Friday deals this year online::

• Define your goal. To be more specific, know what item(s) you really want to find at sale prices and buy online. Most of us are attracted to bright, shiny objects and without having a goal in mind, it will be TOO easy to spend money on things we may not really want. And that's something you definitely want to avoid at all costs! Because stores and online retailers have very strict policies regarding returns of merchandise purchased during Black Friday sales. So do yourself a favor ... set a goal for your Black Friday shopping.
• Establish a budget for your Black Friday shopping. I know this sounds very simplistic, but in my opinion (and that of many personal finance experts) it's critical. Because unless you're loaded or the only child of the latest Powerball winner, you only have so much money to spend for holiday shopping. So set an amount to spend on your item(s) and stick to it.
• Do your research. Unless you've already researched the product(s) you want to buy, you should check out some online reviews. Because you need to know more about a product than "it's hot!". You want to know about features, differences between similar models, the pros & cons and you want to know how much it costs. For those reasons, you should google video product reviews and in-depth written reviews. And don't forget to do your price comparisons!
• Network with online communities dedicated to Black Friday shopping and get in the mix. What you are looking for are sites, blogs or forums that are ACTIVE. Also the members are sharing helpful information in comments, posts and threads. The site is posting ads, coupons, flyers and promo codes. Updates should be available by email, smart phone or a shopping app for your iPhone or Droid phone.
• Be ready to move quickly! You know what you want to buy, you've established a budget, you've done your product research, you know the product price range and you're signed up to receive updates via your PC, smart phone & tablet computer. 2 days before Black Friday tyou receive an alert on your iPhone that informs you that the product you want is being offered online for the next hour only at 10% below the low end of the product price range with free shipping. BUT you missed out on it because you weren't ready to take action quickly.

If you didn't find the Black Friday deals you wanted ... don't despair. Because many of your favorite brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers will have plenty of Cyber Monday deals, sales and coupons for you to check out on the Monday after Black Friday [Note: for 2011 Cyber Monday falls on November 28.]

Check out the Cyber Monday 2011 website for the best Cyber Monday coupons and deals from your favorite online retailers.

From what you've read so far, I hope you see that you can skip the hustle -n- bustle and the hassle of going to malls and shopping centers to find Black Friday sales. You have the information you need to find the best Black Friday deals online. While not comprehensive, this HubPage article provides more than enough information to get you going in the right direction.

So what product(s) do you want to find Black Friday shopping deals on?