The Private SEO Black Hat Forum launch yesterday was overwhelming. The response was incredibly positive and many more people joined than I had expected.

But with that success came a few snares. Either some people who joined did not read this part carefully enough:

Expert Discussions: The SEO Black Hat forums are not for everyone and they may not be right for you. If you are relatively new to SEO or building websites, then do not join the SEO Black Hat Forums: you will be in way over your head. There are plenty of newbie forums out there for you – this is not one of them. Our forums are for successful web entrepreneurs to develop strategies that drive more traffic and generate more revenues.

or did not understand my meaning.

Hopefully this post will help you to understand what is meant and will save you money if you are a Newbie.

Let’s take the extreme example of this post:

Yea.. so I’ve been reading a bunch of stuff lately, but not really understanding it..
basically from what I get here’s the gist of making a few hundred or thousand sites:
1. get domains
2. get a crap load of data
3. use a program to mine that and make “articles”
4. publish

So, basically, I have no clue as to HOW one would do that. I’d be really happy if someone would write a tutorial covering all of that, or posted some links to some good reads.

If you join the Private SEO Black Hat forum and post something like this, two things are going to happen:

1. The post will be deleted
2. You will have your posting privileges limited

One thing that is NOT going to happen:
1. You will get a refund.

In this poster’s case he was not looking for a refund but just wanted to learn. That is understandable, but we are not having discussions at that level on the Private SEO Black Hat forum.

Here was another ICQ I received:

“dude, reading that forum is like reading another language . . .”

Again, this is understandable. What we are discussing is not for everyone.

Now, that’s not to say we don’t answer questions and help each other in the forums . . . because we do. But the discussion is on a higher level than you are going to find at other places and you may not be ready for it yet. Seriously.

What you need to do if you are a Newbie

Save yourself the $100 and go read some of the FREE forums out there. They have people on those other forums that are happy to field newbie questions. Your first task is to figure out how to use Google to find them.

Second: take some of the money you just saved, buy Aaron Walls SEO Book and Read It. It’s worth the time and money. (Link without the affiliate code if you prefer).

Third: Develop a Bullshit detector. There are tons of scams out there and mediocre SEOs who act like they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Learn to tell the difference between who’s for real, and who’s full of shit.

Fourth: Learn some basic coding skills or at least learn to converse with programmers. Then go out and experiment. Will you fall on your face the first few times? Probably – I think we all have. But if you’re smart, failure can be the best teacher.

The Private SEO Black Hat Forums do not have the “secrets” to make you “get rich quick” and, in the end, there is no substitute for experience. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you.

We DO have very exciting discussions that are benefiting our members greatly going on right now . . . but if you aren’t going to understand them – why join?

Am I turning away money from suckers by writing this? Of course I am. But if you’re too green to properly participate – I don’t want your money.