In our last post, we tackled the issue of distractions at work. Those distractions can hamper our productivity, and more often than not many of those distractions come from the wonders of new technology – e-mail, social media, surfing the net.

But there are a number of online tools that can actually improve your productivity:

• Online to-do lists. Try Remember the Milk or Todoist. These Web-based programs allow you to access your to-dos from anywhere. You can set due dates, prioritize tasks and get e-mail reminders about what’s do that day.
• Web site bookmarking tools. How many times do you see a great article, blog post or video online that you want to share with a co-worker, read later or just keep for future reference? Use a tool like Delicious to save Web links and categorize them for added efficiency.
• Track your time. There are a number of time-tracking sites and applications that allow you to track your tasks and see just how much time a project really takes. Toggl is a free useful one. You can also check out RescueTime, which has both individual and business plans (one free option; others are paid).
• Web-based work. If you use more than one computer, you might want to use Google Docs for storing files or use Web-based e-mail so you don’t waste time searching for files you left on your other computer.
• Manage your social media. While using social media like Facebook and Twitter is fun, they also can be good for promoting your business, networking and keeping up with industry news and trends. But managing the influx of info is a full-time job. Use a program like Tweetdeck www.tweetdeck.com to manage your Twitter followers. You can group your followers to meet your needs and interests, such as a column for local contacts, a column for news, another column for individual friends and another column for industry or professional contacts. You also can update your Facebook and LinkedIn status from Tweetdeck, saving the time of logging into multiple sites. Programs like Hootsuite andPeopleBrowsr are similar useful programs.

This list is just the beginning – share your sites and tools for ramping up your productivity.