If you want to earn top returns from your certificates of deposit, savings and money market accounts, it's time consider an online bank.

Signing up is easy and safe. We'll show you how to do it.

Although online banks are relatively new, they operate much like your neighborhood bank. The major difference is that you'll conduct most of your business, whether it's checking interest rates or moving money into your savings account, by computer.

While some online banks are new and exist only in cyberspace, others are divisions of older banks with lots of traditional branch offices.

AmTrustDirect, for example, started out as the online division of Ohio Savings Bank, which opened its doors in Cleveland back in 1889. Then in April, Ohio Savings changed its name to AmTrust Bank.

AmTrustDirect is offering one-year CDs with an annual yield of 5.41% -- the yearly rate of return including interest on the interest earned -- with only a $1,000 minimum deposit. If you walked into an AmTrust Bank branch in Cleveland you'd be offered 5.05%.

And Ascencia, a division of PBI Bank in Louisville, Ky., is paying 5.5% on a one-year CD with a $500 minimum deposit.

That's indicative of what we're seeing across the country.

Local banks are posting big signs promising an interest rate that's close to the best-paying online banks. But it's almost always a little less, and it's almost always a special deal on only one or two types of certificates of deposit for a limited period of time.

A check of our certificate of deposit interest rate comparison chart shows online banks consistently offer the best interest rates on virtually all types of certificates of deposit.

The same is true for other types of accounts.

At iGObanking.com, for example, savings accounts can be opened with as little as $1 and earn 5.3% at a time most neighborhood banks are paying 2% or 3% for such deposits.

This doesn't mean you should rush down to the neighborhood bank and close your accounts. But to make the most of your savings, trusting at least some of it to an online bank is an increasingly smart move.

Here's how to get started:

Step 1. Find a federally-insured bank with a secure site and the best interest rate.

Use our verify that it's insured by checking with the FDIC.

You might also have some anxiety about protecting the private information required when applying for an account.

Online banks understand that, so their application sites are secure. Look at the URL on the application. It should begin "https:." That "s" stands for secure.

Step 2. Fill out the application.

All banks need the same information to open an account and online banks use forms similar to those at a branch down the street.

Electronic applications are on the Web sites of all online banks.

It will ask for your name, address, phone numbers, e-mail address, Social Security number and driver's license number along with the date issued and the expiration date. The bank will not ask for paper copies -- and certainly not the originals -- of any documents.

Most applications will also ask for a "secret" word, such as your mother's maiden name or the city where your father was born. These are just additional security measures.

You may also be asked to create a password and user identification name (the form will say how many letters to use and if numbers are required) to access your account. Be sure and write these down.

You're usually asked what savings plan you're signing up for and the amount you'll be depositing. Any questions? All banks have 800-number help lines and they can walk you through the process.

Step 3. Make a deposit. Manage your money.

Most online banks ask for a check for the amount of your deposit, say $500 for a one-year certificate of deposit. Mail it to them and they'll return the paperwork verifying your deposit, interest rate and date it will mature.

If you're opening a money market or savings account, you'll probably be asked for a check with your initial deposit and a voided check. (Just write "VOID" across the face of the check with a felt-tip pen.)

The online bank will use the account number and tracking number on that check to establish an electronic link between your current checking and your new savings account.

That way money can be transferred among checking, savings and money market accounts, even if they're at different banks.

You may also be offered an ATM card, paper checks, or both, that allow money to be withdrawn from your savings or money market account.

Remember when we learned to shop online? Well, we really mastered that. Then we learned to bid online to get good deals at eBay. Now it's time to start earning money online and save some time while you're at it.

A Pew Project survey taken in December 2005 projected that 63 million consumers, or 43% of Internet users, did at least some of their banking online, from checking account balances to seeking the best interest rate.

That was up from 16 million consumers doing online banking in 2000 and shows how much more comfortable we're becoming with managing our money on the Internet.

Making the most of online banks is the next, logical step.

By Carolyn Siegel

Interest.com Associate Editor

Have a question about your finances? Ask us at editors@interest.com