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To get the best online shopping deals you need to get your hands on the right discount codes, specific offers and special sales hours. Here are 5 strategies for saving the most money on Cyber Monday.

Back in the Dark Ages (2005) when many Americans still needed to go into the office to access high-speed internet, the sales event Cyber Monday was created a way to extend Thanksgiving holiday buying into online-shopping from work. Today (whether you are shopping from the office, home or your iPhone) there are still great Cyber Monday deals to be had, if you use these tools:

Register for retailer e-newsletters and sales emails in advance for Cyber Monday offers.

Bricks-and-mortar retailers are getting wise to the power of online selling and are pushing discounts, free shipping, one-time coupons and more to customers who register with them online (both at their websites as well as by becoming a fan on Facebook or following the company on Twitter). Once you do this you’ll be in prime position to learn about special sales ($50 TVs for 3 hours only on Monday!) or bargains they’re only offering to their registered customers (40% off if you buy today!). Eric Holmen, President of SmartReply.com, a mobile marketing firm that specializes in sending out coupons and deals through customers’ cell phones notes that, "Deal alerts are going to be going out much earlier this year, as retailers try to scramble to make this year better than 2008. This year, you’ll be seeing lots of online deals posted on Thanksgiving—they’re trying to undercut Black Friday sales," he adds.

Don’t start with the retailer’s website when looking for bargains.

While it’s a great idea to sign up for deal alerts and e-newsletters directly with the big retailers, you may get even better bargains by going beyond the official store website for discounts. Holmen explains, "A brick-and-mortar store will never post coupons on their own site. The rationale is that, we’ve already got a person here on our site; we don’t need to offer them anything else. So, the smart shopper needs to know how to find savings information and special offers from other sources."

Do check out the deals on www.cybermonday.com.

Shop.org, the retail coalition that created the Cyber Monday shopping event has a dedicated site, cybermonday.com, to find discount codes from hundreds of retailers—a quick perusal showed that Borders bookstore was offering a 25 percent off code, a free-shipping-with-$50-purchase code from Target, and Dell was offering 25% off all laptops and desktop computers. You can also register for Cyber Monday email deal alerts. (As well, many of the merchants donate a portion of the sale to a charity, so you can feel good when you type in your credit-card number.)

Take advantage of comparison-shopping sites.

If you are looking for an in-demand item or want to make sure you are getting the best bargain of bargains, consider visiting a multi-merchant price comparison site like shop.com that is linked to over 2,000 retailers. Mary Compagno, the director of merchandising at shop.com, tells Holidash, "Organization is a key factor in getting the best online deals. We offer many comparison lists and we have price alerts—if you want to name your price for a certain item, we’ll send you an email alert when any retailer meets your figure. Our site will be especially useful on Cyber Monday—you will be able to see what merchant is offering what at lowest price and whose shipping prices are lowest."

Speaking of comparison, our sister site, AOL Shopping, offers price comparisons and timely product advice & trends updated daily on their shopping blog.

What are going to be hot items this year?

Compagno predicts that the biggest sellers will be, "Music downloads, PSP®go, anything Hannah Montana- or Taylor Swift-branded, Wii—The Biggest Loser game; and, for these items, I do believe that people are shopping by price, online.

Also be sure to look beyond the specific version of the dvd player or game console that you want—you may find surprising bargains. According to Holmen, "a lot of retailers are taking their best-sellers, removing a few functions, and offering them at a lower price."

Be sure to hit the sites dedicated to coupons and discount codes.