Black Friday has become infamously known as the busiest shopping day of the year. Every store runs amazing sales that are too good to pass up. To avoid the hectic lines and traffic, why not stay at home and take advantage of black Friday online this year. Here are five tips to take advantage of these specials online.1. Check ads in the paperThanksgiving Day will be stuffed with specials and coupons for you to look at prior to black Friday. Take the time to go through and see which stores you want to shop online at and which coupons you may be able to apply online. Many times you will find the same sales, if not better, online than in the stores.2. Research beforehandIf you know what products you want, go to various stores that have this item and copy the link to a Word document. This way as black Friday arrives, you can quickly click on the link the product is at and compare prices from store to store.3. Compare pricesThe whole point of shopping on black Friday is to get the best specials of the year. When shopping in the stores, you do not always have the ability to jump from one store to the next and quickly compare prices. But shopping online gives you the opportunity to compare prices at several different stores instantaneously.4. Night owl discountsAs an online shopper, you can beat the early bird specials on Thanksgiving Eve. Many retailers begin posting their specials as early as Thanksgiving Eve for you to take advantage of. There will also be special “web only” deals you can look at as early as Thanksgiving Eve.5. Have a planAs mentioned above, it is essential you do your research beforehand. But at the same time, you want to have a plan for which stores to shop at first and which products you absolutely must have. There are going to be hot items you want to get as soon as possible so they do not run out on the internet. Things like X-Box 360 and Playstation 3 have been known to run out fast.Staying home for black Friday has a number of benefits over fighting the crowds and traffic. If you are smart about it, you can quickly get all of your shopping out of the way online while still taking advantage of all of the amazing specials this day has to offer. Take the tips listed in this article into consideration as black Friday approaches this year.