How do you get 150 000 individuals to visit your site every month (from Lebanon alone mind you)? If you ask CineKlik, the answer is unwaveringly accurate data and relevant content, and in CineKlik’s world that translates into inputing 30 000 entries every week, in addition to creating “really cool stuff” to get users to spend more time on the site. Created back in 2006, CineKlik is an online cinema guide that started out in Lebanon, before expanding into 4 additional countries, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE, in June of 2012.

CineKlik was born out of the frustration founder Nagi Salloum had to endure while dealing with existing online cinema guides: “I didn't want to open many sites to find out what was playing at different cinemas, and i needed to be sure that the information was up to date." The rise in popularity of CineKlik is 'organic' as Nagi explained to me, no marketing, no adds whatsoever, just dissatisfied individuals who, like him, were desperate for a reliable haven.

A serial entrepreneur with many online ventures under his belt, including Loomni and ahlein.net, the cheeky nba3asna.com and yoolki.com (these are the ones that he could recall on the spot during our conversation, so there could be more), he took matters into his own hands and created CineKlik. That endeavor meant that at times, he single handedly had to input updates to ensure accurate information on the site. "Since 2006, we haven't missed a single weekly update."

CineKlik is currently the only such site that employs a dedicated team to ensure that all the information stays correct as Nagi told me, and rightly so if you consider the mammoth task of catering for 5 countries, with several cinema chains in each, each with a dozen branches, playing tens of movies with different viewing times.

More recently, in an effort to grow the site beyond movie listing, CineKlik has introduced the Collections segment. Collections is a compilation of lists around topics relevant to movies, celebrities and media in general. "We felt a need to create content," he explained, "we wanted our visitors to be able to interact with the site, we also wanted to attract an audience that aren't regular movie goers."

The team is currently building the mobile version of the site along with the mobile app, and will be dedicating more time to grow their content in the near future. Make sure you pay it a visit next time you planning to hit the cinema.

Don't miss ArabNet Beirut, a 3 day event that will address a range of topics relating to the web and mobile landscape, placing special emphasis on digital entertainment and the creative sectors. More info here.