Rick Whittington Consulting

Effective web design and internet marketing for exceptional online experiences.

I'm Rick Whittington, a Richmond, Virginia-based website effectiveness consultant. In June 2008, my web consulting firm was named a top 10 interactive firm by Richmond.com. I work to make web sites as effective as possible by providing two primary internet consulting services:

Commonly, my clients are small-to-medium sized companies. Some of them have started online retail sites and want truly stellar revenue growth. Some of my clients hire me to help their online retail sites achieve profitability. Still others require that I conceptualize and execute internet marketing campaigns. Many of my clients have asked me to redesign their site's user experience—both visual and structural.

 
As an all-volunteer organization without a physical office presence, the Hands on DC web site is both our office and billboard at the same time. It helps us attract new volunteers and donors as well as communicate vital information to those already involved. Rick's assistance to redesign our website will go a long way toward improving our efforts. It looks great and is very functional!
- Caroline Clayton
Board Member
Hands on DC

Practical industry knowledge

Read my article about creating a checkout funnel that takes a look at using Google Analytics to find out where customers drop off during checkout. (This data is used to improve checkout conversion rates.)

Commonly asked questions about my services

What makes you qualified to help me?
I have experience not commonly found in the Richmond, Virginia area -- I've created well over 100 web sites for companies of various sizes, from Fortune 500 companies to small mom-and-pops. I designed and built my first e-commerce web site in 1997, a web site selling Virginia peanuts and gift items for Virginia Favorites. Since then, I've worked for large companies like Circuit City and Crutchfield, and I have developed a few web sites of my own to test marketing and search engine optimization concepts.

I've helped clients in a variety of industries for over 10 years, and I'm comfortable assessing whether I can help you achieve the results you want to achieve. After our first consultation, if I don't think I can help you, I'll be honest and let you know.

I'm with an agency and want to work with you to improve my clients' web sites. How do you work with agencies?
I partner with ad agencies that need assistance with web design, development or consulting. Perhaps your agency has designed an interface and need to have it built into a web site. Perhaps your ad agency needs consulting regarding making Google Adwords or paid search more effective. Whether you're an agency or a freelance designer, I can partner with you to improve your clients' web sites and generate innovative ideas for growth. Even if your ad agency is adept at designing and developing web sites, I can review your work to find design flaws that when fixed significantly improve effectiveness.

Common services geared toward agency clients include paid search consulting, web design, web development, blog consulting, and using Web 2.0 techniques to promote web sites.

I can work with freelancers, design firms or ad agencies as a contractor or as a transparent extension of their services. Please contact me and we'll discuss the possibilities.

Where can I see some of your work?
Take a look at my portfolio, where I provide an overview of a handful of the companies I've worked with and case studies of how I've helped each client. Because many of my engagements are internet marketing-related, I can't go into specifics about how I've helped my clients because I don't want to reveal any of their search engine marketing secrets. You can, however, take a look at some of my web sites to understand the web design services and internet marketing services I offer:

  • Virginia Favorites, Ltd.: An online retail operation based in Emporia, Virginia. This site sells Virginia peanuts, Virginia ham, gift baskets and more.
  • MaroonHelmet.com: Virginia Tech Merchandise web retail site design integrated with an enterprise-level ecommerce platform.
  • Roy Wheeler Realty Co.: Charlottesville, Virginia real estate brokerage with an established history — and a real estate blog.

Can you get my web site a #1 ranking on Google in a week?
Not unless you hire me to set up a paid search program. Good search engine optimization takes time. There are a lot of factors influencing search engine rankings, and the search engines are constantly changing so people can't artificially influence search engine results. Visit my search engine services section to learn more about what I can do to increase your web site traffic through effective search engine marketing.

Typically, it takes a few months to see measurable results from search engine optimization services (where you don't pay for search engine listings — you optimize your site to rank naturally). One of my clients increased his web site traffic over 560% in 6 months, but his results didn't happen overnight or even in the first month.

I'm interested in your web consulting services. How can I contact you?
You don't even have to pick up the phone if you don't want to. Simply e-mail me at rick@rickwhittington.com or fill out the contact form. After an initial consultation, I will deliver a proposal in a week or less.