NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The Fed raised rates yet again.

But if you're hoping for a boost to your savings accounts quit dreaming.

"A lot of people equate the Federal Reserve's actions with changes in consumer interest rates but there's not a direct connection or really an indirect connection," says Eric Tyson, author of "Personal Finance for Dummies."

If your willing to make a few changes, however, you can make your savings work harder for you.

Many traditional brick and mortar banks offer some form on online banking, such as bill payment, but there a handful of Internet-based banks such as ING Direct, E*Trade, and NetBank offer either checking or savings accounts that boast above-average yields.

ING, for example, pays a variable 2.2 percent annual percentage yield on its Orange Savings Account versus the 0.475 percent rate commercial banks pay for conventional savings accounts, according to Informa Research Services. There's no minimum balance required to qualify.

Like traditional brick and mortar banks, online firms carry FDIC insurance, which protects depositors for up to $100,000 so you have little reason to fear fraudsters (visit fdic.gov for more information).

You may not want invest all your money in an online account if you need to make those regular ATM runs. Still, for a conventional savings account 'Net banking may not be such a bad idea.

"If you have a larger sum of money that you are not going to tap into for a while you may want to put it in a place where you will get a higher yield," says Jerry A. Barbalatt, a New York-based financial planner.

Money market accounts are usually a good alternative to conventional savings accounts, provided that you meet your bank's minimum asset requirements (usually $2,500 or higher). Interest rates for money markets run, on average, at 0.69 percent, according to Informa.

How does your yield stack up? Low rates are not a saver?s friend. But can you do better than a conventional savings account? Category  Yield  Conventional savings  0.475% APY  Internet savings account  1.13% APY  Money market accounts  0.69% APY  12-mo. CD  1.69% APY  Money market fund  0.97%  Short-term bond fund  2.45%   Source:  Informa Research Services, Jerry A. Barbalatt

If you're willing to lock your money up for a fixed period of time, then a certificate of deposit, or CD, typically pays a higher rate than either a savings account or money market. Right now, the average rate for a 12-month CD is 1.69 percent.

A few banks are putting a creative twist on CDs. Washington Mutual, for example, now offers an indexed-CD tied to the three-month Treasury Bill, plus a fixed margin (about 2.25 percent on 36-month CDs). The interest rate for a WaMu indexed-CD stands at 3.31 percent with a 3.37 percent APY and 2.25 percent minimum interest rate guarantee for the first year.

Like conventional checking and savings accounts, money markets and CDs are FDIC-insured up to $100,00 per depositor, so there's little risk involved.

Money market mutual funds invest in short-term investments such as Treasury bills and bank CDs but their net asset value usually holds steady at $1 per share. They typically pay higher rates than a money market account at your local bank would -- but they are not FDIC-insured.

Tyson says there is little room for worry though as consumers have never lost money invested in a money market fund. Also, with yields of 0.97 percent, relatively low expense ratios, and tax-exempt options this seems like a relatively painless choice for the 400 million investors who own a money market fund.

For everyone else, however, the minimum dollar amount needed to open a money market fund may be daunting.

"At a lot of Vanguard funds the minimum investment is $3,000. That's a big chunk of money," Tyson says. He states that Vanguard is a good place for people to start their shopping, but notes that Fidelity, USAA and T. Rowe Price also offer good yields.

Money market funds also offer check-writing privileges, but usually with a higher minimum amount such as $250. Not a bad option if you want to write a check for your monthly mortgage, but it's hardly practical for a $2.99 bag of Oreos and $1.89 for a quart of milk unless you are in dire need of $250 worth of cookies and cream.

Short-term bond funds typically invest in government or corporate debentures with maturities of a year-and-a-half to two years or less and aren't as interest-rate sensitive as their longer-term counterparts.

Vanguard offers a wide array of choices as does Fidelity, USAA and T. Rowe Price.

Jerry Barbalatt says that yields for short-term bond funds are hovering around 2.45 percent. Sounds yummy given the alternatives, but keep in mind that these funds are a better bet for those who aren't planning to tap the money for at least two years.

Also, be aware the term "short-term" means different things to different funds.

Short-term bond funds also carry slightly more risk than any of the other banking alternatives listed above as bonds are a type of debt instrument that are subject to default. Again, the key word is "slightly."

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"They tend to hold investment grade paper, no junk, and they more often than not tend to have a fairly heavy exposure in the Treasury market which has no risk of default," says Andrew Clark, a senior research analyst Lipper.