CyberMonday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, is a high-profile event for online retail. Excellent promotion by Shop.org has raised awareness of online shopping right at this critical time of the year. Like Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) for bricks and mortar retailers, CyberMonday is now seen as the bellwether day for online shopping.

All the hype creates the impression that CyberMonday is actually the year’s highest volume online shopping day. While this may be true for a few online businesses, data from 100+ retailers shows that the majority of businesses see their top sales days a couple of weeks after CyberMonday.

What will be the busiest online shopping day for your site? The answer depends on product category and business model:

Even if Cyber Monday isn’t your site’s busiest day, don’t miss the opportunity to leverage increased attention from shoppers and the press. Here are some ideas:

• Put together a CyberMonday promotional campaign highlighting your strongest offers
• Participate in the Cybermonday.com promotion site
• Provide a press release with your company’s season-opening promotions and Holiday plans
• Talk to local news outlets to stir up buzz about your company.

So how big will your biggest day be? Rolling into the season, our October data comparing 2006 and 2007 paid search and web sales data is very positive across most sectors. On the positive side, we forecast strong growth in impressions, clicks, and conversions, leading to strong Holiday sales. On the negative side, we also forecast increasing CPCs, making strong bid management even more critical.