Dinosaur Business Continues Evolving Thanks to Essential Digital Training

There are many ways of making a living. Take for example Mike and Sue from Middlewich-based Everything Dinosaur, they specialise in selling scale models of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.  Their business might be focused on the past, but they understand the importance of staying ahead in a competitive market. Recently, Mike had the opportunity to take part in the digital training programme organised by Digital Cheshire. Enhancing digital skills and staying abreast of new developments with artificial intelligence is key to futureproofing their company.

An Introduction to Everything Dinosaur

Founded in 2005, Everything Dinosaur is an on-line retailer that supplies museum quality prehistoric animal models to collectors and dinosaur enthusiasts all over the world.  The business exports into Europe, the United States and South America.  The business also supplies museums, exhibitions and event companies.

Why is Digital important to your business i.e. marketing, social media, website, SEO, online CRM’s?

About 95% of Everything Dinosaur’s turnover comes from direct sales to customers on the company’s website. The success of the e-commerce operations is dependent upon having a well-optimised website that is user-friendly. Effective SEO practices to improve search engine rankings and an appropriate social media strategy to drive engagement are essential. With little formal training in digital marketing, Mike was delighted to be able to participate in the Digital Cheshire training programme.

What did you learn during your time with Digital Cheshire?

The workshops and virtual training courses were perfectly tailored to their needs as small business owners. The content was both relevant and practical. For example, the course elements that focused on artificial intelligence has enabled Mike to utilise AI to reduce the time taken to create blog posts.  This has been a huge benefit in terms of his time management.  In addition, AI has been employed to help optimise website content for SEO and to identify keywords for website pages.

The training has helped them develop a better understanding of the technical aspects of their website.  This has resulted in changes to the website layout and format improving accessibility for those customers who have visual impairments and use screen readers.  Furthermore, product pages have been optimised, making them more customer friendly as well as improving the page’s search engine ranking.

Since attending the masterclasses what are you doing differently?

Utilising AI as a personal assistant has freed up time to enable Mike and Sue to plan the expansion of their business. Armed with insights into the back-office features of websites and keyword analysis and optimisation, they have been actively developing a new site aimed at expanding their customer base in America.

Mike added:

“With our better understanding of the back-office features of the website, we have felt more confident when it comes to launching an e-commerce platform specifically targeting customers in the USA. Thank you Digital Cheshire, this dinosaur business is evolving and here to stay!”

Find out more about Everything Dinosaur – Dinosaur Models and Toys