| Below are the Top Online Holiday Sites for 2008. We filtered hundreds of sites down to the top eight sites we think worthy of your time and money. Some years, online shopping sites wow us with their cool use of the medium and technology employed to make online shopping useful and enjoyable. This year, we found some of the best uses of the medium are simple designs to save you, the shopper, money. So, think of this year's issue (we've been doing this holiday issue for well over a decade now), as the quintessential deal sheet for your holiday shopping. WDFM is sponsored by...
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Think you know what makes consumers open email messages? Forrester's new report reveals how marketers miss the mark by fixating on factors that are easy to test or quick to fix. Learn which factors truly affect your open rates and where your brand falls on the "Email Opens Index". Download the Forrester Report Now | Coming Attractions: The next 3 issues of this newsletter are ... - 10 Tips to Increase Sales on Your Site
- Best Marketing Sites of 2008
- Best Google Tools & Tips for Internet Marketers
Did someone forward this newsletter to you? If so, welcome. I invite you to subscribe to this newsletter at http://www.wdfm.com Please forward this newsletter to someone you think would find it useful. Thank you. Now, with those must-know online holiday shopping sites is our Co-Editor Janet Roberts. Take it awaaaaay, JR ... Deal-Hunter Shopping Sites Ebates
http://www.ebates.com/ Ebates' value proposition is simple: Use its shopping portal, and get cash back on every purchase from an affiliated merchant. No forms to submit, no points to redeem. Partners include almost every online merchant, from Bloomingdale's and Wal-Mart, from Best Buy to Hotels.com. If you can buy it online, Ebates likely lists somebody selling it. Create an account (no charge), then search by merchant name, product category or incentive (cash back of 1% to 10% most often and sometimes higher, plus coupons and other special promotions). Click on the merchant you want. Ebates redirects you to that site, where you buy as usual. You can even double-dip: redeem any coupons or promos and still get your cash back. The catch: You have to go through Ebates' portal to get to the merchant site, so that Ebates can track your activity and credit your account. Request payment once a quarter, or let your payments pile up. Freeshipping.org
http://www.freeshipping.org Shipping costs have always been the Achilles heel of online retailing, but merchants are catching on that shoppers love to have someone else pay the freight. Freeshipping.org, a for-profit business founded by Luke and Maisie Knowles in 2007 to find and share free-shipping coupon codes, lists deals and promos from its 850 partner merchants, with marquee names like Toys R Us, Dell, Macy's, the Gap and JCPenney. The site also claims to list free-shipping offers not duplicated on other sites. Search by store name, product category, soon-to-expire deals and newest offers, and read the blog to get tips and advice on online bargain-hunting. Bonus for online merchants: Luke Knowles' complimentary e-book showing how to capitalize on free-shipping promotions. WDFM is sponsored by...
Bargain-Hunting with Web 2.0 RetailMeNot
http://www.retailmenot.com/ Still wondering how to incorporate social media and networking into your Web site? RetailMeNot is your go-to guide. It uses every weapon in the social-media arsenal to help users find coupon codes for the best deals on the Web. - Top stores searched and most popular coupon downloads appear on the home page.
- Tag clouds show categories with the most action and link directly to them, saving on search time.
- Users generate the content by posting coupon codes and writing reviews and comments in the RetailMeNot.com members' forums.
- The site invites users to spread the word via its Facebook "Become A Fan" application.
Add to that an email newsletter and multiple desktop widgets and Web browser extensions to make accessing the pages easier. RetailMeNot shows you what's possible right now to capture the social nature of shopping on your own Web site. Amazon Customers Vote
http://promotions.amazon.com/gp/cv/ Log in using your Amazon password, and vote for products in six categories that you would want to buy at specially deep-discounted prices. If your product wins in its category, and if Amazon draws your name at random, you can buy that product at the discount price, usually 50%, with some discounted even deeper. The catch: Potential buyers vastly outnumber units available. So, if Amazon draws your name, you must race to the site to buy your item while it's still in stock. You get all the heart-pounding excitement of battling your fellow shoppers for a $69 KitchenAid mixer (regularly $499) without having to stand in line at checkout or fight for a parking space. Geeky Gifts and Gadgets ThinkGeek
http://www.thinkgeek.com Got a favorite technogeek you'd like to repay for reviving your computer or restoring your network? Turn to ThinkGeek, a haven for the technologically advanced, and its Holiday Gift Guide, loaded with offbeat products and searchable by price, gender, age, interest area or wishlist. We found a coffee cup emblazoned with the caffeine molecule, a microfleece pullover with interior pockets to store digital devices, and our personal favorite: the desktop-monitor rearview mirror, which alerts your geek that someone is about to invade the cubicle. Oh, and lots of monkey-related items, too, because geeks seem to like monkeys. Trust us on this one. Cool Stuff Cheap
http://www.coolstuffcheap.com/giftsuggestions.html How can you resist a proposition like that? You definitely won't find socks and underwear at this shopping site dedicated to "really cool stuff for you and your habitat." But, if lava lamps, bubble machines, retro telephones and electronics or doormats with snarky sayings are on your list, you've come to the right place. Find something you covet for yourself? Bookmark it on your social-network pages and send a hint to your online buddies. WDFM is sponsored by...
Giving Back Charity Navigator
http://www.charitynavigator.org/ Getting the best deal for your money isn't just for holiday shopping. Charitable giving, whether purely philanthropic or for tax savings, should be equally efficient. This site, whose motto is "Find a charity you can trust," will help you find reputable charities, avoid bad bets and refine your charitable-giving strategy. The site analyzes over 5,300 charities based on their IRS Form 990 financial statements and ranks them according to "how efficiently we believe a charity will use their support today, and to what extent the charities are growing their programs and services over time." If you want to cut to the chase, check out the highest and lowest ranking charities in each of the site's 34 categories. DIY Book Gifts Blurb
http://www.blurb.com/ If you can't find the perfect gift book this season, maybe it's waiting for you to write it. Create bookstore-quality books with Blurb.com's downloadable publishing software, then order as many copies as you want (starting at $12.95 for one copy) and give it away or sell it through Blurb's online bookstore. Need advice? Check the extensive FAQ section, sign up for a webinar or get help from Blurb's professional book creators. A few ideas: Your wedding (or your child's, best friend's or employer's daughter's); a family cookbook; a lifetime of travel photography (less futzy than scrapbooking); memorable ad campaigns or your CEO's illustrious history with your company (brownie points not included). Attention Bloggers and Twitterers: You can link to the contents of this newsletter at the following URL and know it will live there permanently:
http://www.wdfm.com/publish/holiday_shopping/ 
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