Rick Whittington: Web site effectiveness consultant

Over the past 11 years, Rick Whittington has built over 120 web sites and has developed a broad knowledge of operating an online business. His skills in web site design, information architecture, usability, e-commerce and content management have earned his company clients from all over the United States.

Prior to starting his consulting firm, Rick worked at Circuit City and Crutchfield Corporation where he led web site design teams. He enjoyed success at many levels with the two companies by working closely with marketing, merchandising and IT teams. He also counselled senior management on strategic planning initiatives for both web sites.

Rick started his career at Circuit City as a web designer and was quickly elevated to design manager. He helped forge Internet advertising relationships with America Online, MSN and Yahoo!. He managed a $5 million online media plan and developed CircuitCity.com's first advertising performance tracking system.

He managed an e-mail marketing program that involved various e-mail marketing vendors. Rick managed the testing and deployment of e-mail campaigns and was tasked with growing subscriber numbers through Web sweepstakes.

Rick was instrumental in bringing a usability focus to Circuit City's web site design. He wrote and moderated in-lab usability tests and eventually worked with research companies like Usability Sciences and Sachs Insights to test web interfaces. Rick was responsible for a visually appealing and functional design that included the shopping cart, checkout, search, navigation and product presentation.

In his last year with the electronics powerhouse, Rick hosted strategic planning sessions to brainstorm new directions for the site and led creative efforts for the 2004 re-launch of CircuitCity.com. Rick also led an interactive agency RFP process and worked with R/GA, an interactive agency, to manage creative aspects of the site launch.

During his career at Circuit City, the company's Web site won multiple design awards include the Bizrate Circle of Excellence (four consecutive years) and an Internet Retailer Top 50 award. CircuitCity.com also earned recognition from customer experience firm Vividence and industry publication Twice Magazine.

Rick graduated with honors from Virginia Tech with a bachelors of arts degree in communication studies and a minor in marketing. He's an avid Hokies fan with football season tickets. Rick is married and has two children.