With Weblin, my first customer

This post is a translation of an italian post I wrote and that is published here.

Home. Dinner time. I am reading a post about Weblin on the blog 980Km.
It sounds very interesting and I decide to download it.

I  am pleasantly surprised by it. With Weblin I “become very little” and every time I visit a site I find myself face to face in front of other users. I can’t believe it! 
 
I am on Repubblica.it site and I feel like in a bar, chatting with people about the world, commenting on the last news. 
I begin to think about Weblin used on e-commerce sites. So I go quickly to Amazon.com and I feel like into a shop with many other customers. I start looking for a shop assistant.

I am so happy that I want to share it with someone, so I go on YouTube Italia and I find Il_Vale.

[20:52] lara:  She has entered the chatroom
[20:53] lara:  Can I ask you something?
 [20:53] lara:  for how long have you been using Weblin?
[20:54] Il_Vale:  about 15 days
[20:54] mrbell: a few days
[20:55] Il_Vale:  it’s cool
[20:55] Il_Vale: it’s a good idea
[20:55] lara: for what?
[20:56] lara: how old are you?
[20:56] Il_Vale: I use it to share my opinions with people I meet on websites that I usually visit.
[20:56] mrbell:  I am 25 year old
[20:56] Il_Vale: I am 28 this saturday
[20:57] lara: I am 27
[20:57] Il_Vale: do you realise what we are doing?
[20:57] Il_Vale:  we are chatting on a website

Il_Vale has been using it for 15 days. In his opinion it is not widespread. We all agree. We talk about weblin and I explain him what I am thinking.

[21:04] lara:  I was thinking that…
[21:04] Il_Vale: I think it is the right direction for the evolution of the web
[21:04] lara:  I have an ecommerce website, a bookshop and…
[21:04] Il_Vale:  at the end the only web’s limit was that you cannot talk about goods to purchase such as a book or anything else in real time
[21:04] lara:  I can login to weblin and stay on my e-shop waiting for weblin-customers
[21:05] lara: as in the shop, do you undestand?
[21:05] lara: you come to my bookshop and there is a shop assistant
[21:05] Il_Vale:  smart!
[21:05] Il_Vale:  don’t you think that you can already make money out of it
[21:05] lara: I know, but I think visitors must be cared for
[21:05] lara: would you like it?
[21:06] Il_Vale: I think that you have your first customer
[21:06] Il_Vale:  can you find me two books written by Stevenson?

I pretend to be a shop assistant
 
[21:06] lara: Should I put them in the basket or should I give you just the weblink?
[21:06] Il_Vale:  Give me the link, please
[21:07] Il_Vale: I am searching for them, but I haven’t found them yet
[21:07] Il_Vale:  I was thinking to buy them online, but, if you could …
[21:07] Il_Vale:  do you accept cheques?

Only now I understand that Il_Vale believes that I work in e-commerce

[21:07] lara: Oi
[21:07] lara: I was joking, I do not have a bookshop… It was just an example
[21:07] Il_Vale: aaahhh
[21:08] lara: anyway since we are here, I will try to find them!
[21:08] Il_Vale:  sorry, I thought you had a bookshop
[21:08] Il_Vale:  hold on!
[21:08] lara: no no
[21:08] lara:  Tell me the titles and I will try to find them online

I give him the link to bol.it and we meet there with our little avatars. I am smiling. It is almost like having walked there together.
At the end, we spend 15 minutes chatting.
Il_Vale has a blog  and he works with babies.
I thank him and ask if I could use the chat for my blog.
 
In only two hours I have found a customer without having an ecommerce website (if only I had a bookshop, damn!).
Weblin is a really  great opportunity. It can make “real” all the ecommerce and it represents a great chance of interaction with customers.
 
Will we need call-to-action pages  if NOW we can have a shop assistant on the website who can welcome customers and help them?
Will we have to keep thinking hard in order to find a good landing page?