Breixo Marino (Cangas, 1985) is the administrator of Movilesdualsim.com, a portal that was born in 2008 as a blog specialized in this type of telephone, but that has evolved, focusing on Chinese-made mobiles, incorporating a forum and even a Now section, with a monthly traffic of more than half a million usersthe time has come to analyze in detail his career and future plans.
Interview with Breixo Mariño, Movilesdualsim.com
Ten years ago you created Movilesdualsim.com, how did the idea come about?
At that time, the MVNOs, I had a permanent contract and it was good for me to be able to combine rates. That’s how I met the dual sim card phones Since there was only information in English, I decided to create a small personal blog to collect information and encourage other people to share their opinions.
A few months had grown so much that I expanded the blog with a forum. In this way I created a direct communication space to debate with people who knew much more about mobiles than I did.
In 2008 the Internet was very different from how it is now in fields such as mobile browsing, the use of social networks or, directly, the connectivity of the population. Did you imagine that your website would last 10 years? What was the main challenge What did you have to overcome to get ahead?
It didn’t even cross my mind that the web would last for so many years. It is a project that has been growing very little by little. In order to keep the web active for so many years, the important thing has been the constancy. In the beginning, he spent much of his time creating content. Little by little, I dedicated more time to keeping users happy (applying ideas related to “Gamification”) and, above all, to taking care of the team of moderators: delegating and attending to their suggestions. Without a good team of collaborators it would have been impossible to reach 10 years.
On the other hand, one of the toughest challenges was the first platform change. They promised that all the content could be migrated from one to another but it was impossible. We had to migrate the most important content by hand. Luckily, the traffic to the blog was still very high, so we managed to recover quickly. There I learned that it is necessary do a lot of research before using vital software like, in this case, it was the forum platform.
How has Movilesdualsim evolved? What has been the main change over this time?
As of 2014, dual SIM mobiles ceased to be so necessary and almost naturally we evolved to be the reference community on all types of Chinese mobiles. Knowing how to adapt was important for the continuity of the forum.
How did you manage to survive the rise of other great massive forums and the popularization of social networks?
From birth the key has been differentiation. There were already other much larger telephony forums. By focusing exclusively on DualSIM mobiles and Chinese mobiles, we managed to be a reference within this niche.
At the same time, from the Staff I have always tried to promote “buenrollismo”which is what helps a simple forum to end up becoming a family that you feel the need to visit on a daily basis.
How many users does Movilesdualsim.com have? How is the average profile of users?
We are currently 167,000 registered users. The community receives more than half a million visits every month. The majority are men between 18 and 34 years old, although the percentage of women is very high (45%).
In general, they are people looking for a cheap alternative to mobile phones from big brands such as iPhone or Samsung. Today, mobile phones from brands like Xiaomi have nothing to envy to the big ones and with similar features they cost half.
Movilesdualsim.com is not only a forum to discuss Chinese mobiles. It also has a section for users to sell (and buy) this type of mobile. How does it work? Do you keep track of which are the best-selling mobiles?
It is a section that I plan to improve in the coming weeks. Right now it works, but I’m missing a good ratings system that gives more reliability to recurring sellers and, at the same time, helps increase the movement of this section.
How have you managed to monetize the web? Have you tried different options? Which one has worked better for you and which one has been worse?
I’ve tried a little of everything. At first I only used Google AdSense. Next I tried with systems of and little by little I have also managed to monetize thanks to the direct sale of banner. I currently have a mix of all three systems.
Without a doubt and being possible, the best option is direct sales.
Surely throughout all these years there has been more than one “bitter controversy” and funny anecdote in the forum. Do you remember any in particular?
I remember with a bittersweet taste the threat of lawsuit from an online store for negative comments (). I had the option to skip everything and delete the comments they asked me for, but something smelled bad. There were too many complaints and I didn’t want to contribute to their scamming.
Fortunately, after receiving several threats and calls a wave of support was formed for which I am more than grateful: bloggers, other forums and even with cover in Menéame. The “Streisand effect” provoked managed to surface more cases of fraud by the store itself, which ended up disappearing.
Imagine that you could travel back in time to 2008. What advice would you give the Breixo of that time?
Without a doubt, what I regret the most is not having thoroughly investigated the platform of the forum that I was going to use. A mistake that slowed down the project on two occasions.
Let’s do a bit of futurology: what headline would you like to read in Marketing4eCommerce in a year?
“The forums are dead, long live the forums.” I’ve been hearing for years that the forums have killed them, but I think they will still serve for many years as a place of meeting and consultation.
quick quiz
- What is the first social network you open in the day? Facebook
- iOS or Android? Android
- App or website? Web
- In which eCommerce and how long ago did you make your last online purchase? Amazon almost every week.
- And it was? a sunlight
- Last book read? Dragonlance Annotated Chronicles
- Recommend us a fiction series: office
- What website have you seen lately that has surprised you for good? Feverbee.com an interesting and updated website with ideas to improve the management of an online community.
- What is your favorite thing to do that has nothing to do with digital? Travel, hike and dance.
- He recommended that we interview you. What do you think of him and his work at Affiliate Coin? It is impressive what they have managed to put together being such a small team of people. They have pinpointed the biggest flaws in the traditional affiliate format and improved it by implementing technology.
- Let’s spin a magic chain: Which acquaintance of yours do you think we should interview? Why? Jero Vázquez, since 2011, has maintained one of the first online seafood stores in Galicia.
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