To Outsource Web Development or Not: A Small Automotive Company Considers Search Engine Marketing

It was a clear, cold January 1 in New England. Tim and Cyndy, never interested in big New Year’s celebrations, were taking stock of the previous 12 months and thinking about what they needed to do in the coming year. The couple were sole owners of two small businesses, Phoenix Service Company, an auto repair shop, and Federal Hill Trading Company, an online retailer of specialty automotive parts, both operated out of a shop near their home in the northeastern United States. After 30 years of crawling under cars and lifting engines, Tim was winding down the service business and concentrating on building up Federal Hill auto-parts sales. But since Phoenix auto repair continued to provide their major income source, Tim and Cyndy had some real hesitation about how to make the transition.