Austin, TX August 17, 2006 – The owners of Frames Direct, the online leader in eyeglasses, sunglasses, contact lenses and fashion eyewear sales, are pleased to announce that online marketing expert Richard V. Burckhardt has relocated from California to join their new Austin area office team. Burckhardt, who spent five years as Senior Web Designer and Webmaster for Desert Publications, Inc. (Palm Springs Life Magazine) and more recently as the Web Marketing Manager for the Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention and Visitors Authority, will work with the Frames Direct web development team to ensure that the online content is not only customer friendly, but search engine friendly. Burckhardt has worked for Frames Direct remotely as a contract consultant for the past year. “Search engine optimization is my specialty and I look forward to working with the Frames Direct team as a full time member,” said Burckhardt. “They have got a dynamic, growing site with terrific content and a huge selection of eyewear products to work with.” “I am also thrilled to be back in Texas, especially Austin,” said Burckhardt, who grew up in Houston and graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Journalism. Burckhardt will also take over press relations and pay per click marketing efforts. FramesDirect.com is a Houston-based 24-hour/7-day-a-week eyewear store that went online in 1996 and currently features over 110,000 products, including designer frames , eyeglasses , sunglasses , prescription lenses and contact lenses as well as a patented online technology for finding eyeglasses, sunglasses and frames, the FrameFinder Virtual Try-On System , which allows users to “try on” frames from any personal computer by simply uploading a photo of themselves. The new Austin office, located off of F.M. 1826 near Driftwood, serves as the base for a growing local operation for Frames Direct. Customer service and marketing services are among the first occupy the facility. About FramesDirect.com Dr. Dhavid Cooper and Dr. Guy Hodgson have been in practice in the Houston area for over 20 years and founded FramesDirect.com in 1996. The family of optical websites includes Framesdirect, http://www.binocularsdirect.com and http://www.gogglesdirect.com . The office can be reached at 1-800-248-9427. Contact: Richard V. Burckhardt 512-782-9612 press@framesdirect.com # # #