While the Internet is one of the most powerful tools to facilitate communication, distribute information, and most importantly, enable work, it’s also chock full of sports scores, viral videos, tweets and wall posts, email chain-letters, and a ton of other distractions that can negatively affect your productivity and work output. (Trust me, I know.)

Here are a few tips you can follow to help better manage your work time to stay productive while also keeping yourself happy.

1. Set The Time: Bucketing your time into various categories can really help you stay focused and become more efficient with your day. Typically, I set my work into three different groups.

First, there’s standard “work” time. While working on my general projects, I’m also available to be contacted through standard email (Outlook or your software or web client of choice), instant messenger, Skype, the Elance Workroom, work-related social media, telephone, web cam etc. This is when you get your primary communication done before getting started on your main projects.

Second, there’s “solo” time. This is where I close Outlook, close all Internet browsing windows, set my IM status to “busy”, and get down to business. Some others suggest completely unplugging to get away from Internet distractions (oh YouTube, you always come calling), but I stay connected just in case there is any online reference material I need access to or if there is some emergency contact that needs to be made regarding a project. Use the combination that fits your work life best, but remember to make sure you designate some time alone to get to work.

And lastly, there’s “break” time. While some may disagree, I find that designating small, succinct time periods where you can simply take a load off, read the news, stretch, catch up on blogs, or have a little bit of time to indulge yourself can really help you decompress during the day, especially after a long period of hard work. Some studies, like one from Northwestern University in Illinois, indicate that short breaks at work can actually help you solve complex problems. However, you probably should exhibit a strong level of self control – I know how easy it is to get lost for hours in the hundreds of thousands of items available on Amazon.

2. Control Your Notifications: Notifications, like the ones you see conveniently pop up in Outlook, Yahoo! IM, AOL Instant Messenger, RSS readers, and more are great for keeping you up to date with the latest news and commentary, but they somehow manage to come at the perfect time to derail your productive streak.

If you absolutely need to keep some sort of notifications system, try configuring your notifications to only play a sound rather than a sound and visual cue. According to a study at the University of Cardiff, a visual alert, like a pop up notification or flashing taskbar notification, caused a longer distraction period when compared to just an audio cue due to a shift in visual focus on the screen. Another benefit to using audio cues is that you can quickly and easily turn them on and off by utilizing your standard volume controls without fiddling with any computer settings.

3. Try Batch Processing: By definition, “Batch Processing” is the execution of a series of programs (“jobs”) on a computer without manual intervention. Try applying some of the same ideology to your work. For example, with email, try setting a specific time period where you read and respond to all messages in a batch process. Some recommend doing this two times a day, for example once in the morning and once mid afternoon, but find a schedule that makes most sense for you.

Batch processing can be applied to a number of things, for example responding to Twitter and Facebook messages, IMing (they can wait a few minutes), RSS readers, and even your daily tasks. You’d be surprised at how you can really improve your productivity by organizing your tasks and plowing through them in an orderly fashion.

4. Set Rules: Many of you freelancers, consultants, and Internet entrepreneurs work from home or other places with physical, real-world distractions. Setting up a clear set of rules and following them consistently with roommates, friends, and children is especially critical for maintaining a healthy, productive work environment.

Remember, these are just a few tactics that I have found success with, but your mileage may vary. So, I’d like to ask: what tips and tricks do you have in order to stay focused when working online? Drop us a few in the comments below and we’ll feature the best responses on the 3E Blog later this month.