If you've been thinking that given the current economy, the 2008 holiday shopping season will be somewhat lackluster --- you're probably right. And yet, despite the dismal forecase, Black Friday 2008 will probably be the busiest one ever.
'Black Friday' is the day after American Thanksgiving is the first day of the Christmas season and is usually the busiest shopping day of the year... offline. This year it falls on November 28th.
'Cyber Monday', falls on the Monday after Thanksgiving. The term was first used by Shop.org, whose research showed that 77% of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales on that day.
This year, with less to spend on Christmas gifts, consumers will be looking for the very best deals they can get and with more merchants competing for fewer dollars, the deals are going to be phenomenal. In fact, merchants have already started to lower their prices to get a leg up on the competition.
So, although it's still more than a month away, it's time to get your site and PPC campaigns ramped up for hordes of Black Friday shoppers.
Start checking the networks now for Black Friday deals. Here's an example of one already posted by Travelocity... Travel to New York on Black Friday to Complete Your Holiday Shopping! Click Here for Great Vacation Deals to The Big Apple! 
Make sure that you are receiving merchant emails. Many merchants already have their 2008 holiday shopping catalogs online and will start pumping out Black Friday and Cyber Monday 'deal' notices to their affiliates around the beginning of November. Unless you are in the habit of checking into each network's interface everyday, turn on email notifications from your best merchants or you may miss some really great deals that you could be passing on to your customers.
Contact your affiliate manager directly. If you have a working relationship with your affiliate manager, phone him or her and get the low-down on the best seasonal deals and best-converting offers.
Decorate for Christmas. Pretty up your site with a few holiday graphics. Just acknowledging the season with a 'Happy Holidays' header or a "Your One-Stop Christmas Shop" graphic will show your spirit and get your customers in the mood to shop.
Put up a 'Black Friday Deals' page... or pages. Draw visitors deeper into your site with the promise of special savings opportunities.
Do the legwork. Compare and contrast the deals that your merchants are offering. Sifting through a myriad of sites and offers is time-consuming. Save your potential customers time and effort by explaining the difference between offers on the same product. For example, show how that company that charges slightly more for a product but offers 'free shipping' will save them money in the long run.
Create urgency. Let your visitors know that these deals will not last by including offer expiry dates in your copy. Put up an "x number of Days 'Til Christmas' countdown ticker on your site, eg. You can find the "Till Christmas" code at Javascript Made Easy
Set up your PPC campaigns well in advance. Drive targeted traffic to your Black Friday deals pages with pay per click advertising.
Touch base regularly. Now's the time to increase the frequency of contact with your subscriber base. Let them know that you're doing the legwork to find them the very best deals of the season. Let them know what's new and hot in your niche and tell them to stay on the lookout for more notices from you with sizzling deals.
Seal the deal with great copy. Go beyond price points and convince your visitors that the products you're promoting make great gifts with tantalizing copy. For example, in describing spa or jewelery gifts for women, make good use of phrases such as, ie. pamper her, soothing, relaxing, unique, innovative, hand-picked, romantic, heart-touching, romantic and indulgent. Be sure to stress the benefits to the gift-giver as well, eg. "she'll thank you again and again for...".
Keep these suggestions in mind as you prepare your site for the 2008 holiday season - and you'll thank me for your increased conversions this year! :-)
