Are White-hat gurus the biggest scammers of them all?

I used to follow white-hat gurus and their PR definitely presented them as these legitimate sellers, complete with a huge following of sheeple who hang on their every status on their Facebook fan pages. I admit I was duped at the time, now I look at them with a sneer. Their shit doesn't work and they're fooling their fans with products & services that don't work well at all.

Take Mari Smith, Ryan Deiss etc. Their products just never logistically work when you put them into action, the tasks they set never add up (these days I can see it from a mile away when I see them give their "step-by-step plan"). Too vague, too general, too simplified, and waaaay too hyped. The story of most white-hat scammers, woops, I meant gurus...

I personally wouldn't buy anything that i see on facebook.. no need to comment more

thats and a good reason i don't have facebook yet

I meant their Facebook fan page status updates. They're like celebs on there, complete with gushing fans.

Heck, I'd even throw Marie Forleo into this mix. I saw her "B-School" launch and I was like what the fuck?

I hope she doesn't sue me though because she is quite hot.

That's because most of them have no real life experience, they teach only theories and regurgitated info.

Fuck them all and this is life by the way, welcome to it.

People who can't do... teach

I've been in your shoes for way too long. Seriously... sometimes I ask myself "What would've happened if I never found BHW... would I still waste my time on the warrior forum"?

To be honest, when it comes to guides etc... I don't care about anything other than legitimate case studies. Unfortunately, there aren't many people sharing these... obviously a lot harder to do than those crappy vague guides.

Sadly, most well-known gurus start to abuse their list with too many affiliate offers, and most of the time they don't care about the quality of the product, but only about how well they could possibly sell.

warm regards,
neocortx

The term "white-hat" is an understatement and practically doesn't exist. Coming back to your own point of view, you have never had a real white hat provider.

Many people call it white hat here but it's not which can be seen by merely viewing their offers.

What it means is, if you can't identify it then you don't know it and it becomes even harder to differentiate the wheat from the shaft. Put on your telescope, hone your skills or you will continue to get it wrong.

Well, what are we talking about a white hat "guru" or a white-hat consultant? If they're "guru" then they sell methods that are shit. Yes then they're mostly scammers. If they do work for REAL projects of REAL companies then no, they're not scammers.

I proud myself to be a white hat consultant, well, as white hat as it could get. Basically white hat doesn't exist. By definition, if you so much think of doing something online with the intent of ranking higher in the SERP's then that's not white hat. Pure white hat is to have a website, do nothing to it except adding content and rank, better chances of winning the lottery if you ask me.

My definition of White-hat: a term to make business owners feel more comfortable with SEO due to the fact that the penalty risk is as low as possible and it brings results in the long run and that's about it.

This being said, white-hat isn't for everyone. It's so low on results that you need a large heap of money to feel anything at all regarding organic traffic but hey, that's what you get if you play by the Google books (talking about usability, ctr improvement, bettering the analytics metrics, link baiting, social media investments, so on so forth). So, all of my clients who have white-hat strategies implemented are paying a truckload of money for it.

Conclusion is, if you're not a big company with deep pockets, white hat isn't for you, but this is certainly not a scam.

It depends on Which Forum you are talking about.

WizGizmo said:

It depends on Which Forum you are talking about.

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Agreed! Stereotypes aside, this forum seems to have much less self proclaimed gurus than the others out there. I would think that a good majority of the White Hat experts here do in fact have a good idea of what they are talking about.

Or at least I'd like to hope :/

WizGizmo said:

It depends on Which Forum you are talking about.

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Haha, I see what you did there Wiz.

W130SN said:

Haha, I see what you did there Wiz.

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Wait, what did he do?

The more information and practice you get the less trust you have in these "gurus"

asap1 said:

Wait, what did he do?

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HINT: The inside joke is in the RED letters.

Mr. W130SN caught on right away.

The only White Hat is not actually optimizing a site in regards to SEO. It's also not link building of any kind in a marketing capacity. Google does a bit of doublespeak on these points.

To heck with the gurus! What you can learn from most of them is how to properly brand yourself online (by following not their SEO or IM methods, but the means by which they have promoted and huckstered themselves into an authority position). Sometimes their fame has nothing to do with their students' success rate, but with the unique marketing proposition they have as a meme on the web. Look at the ummm, hottie Forleo previously mentioned---her guru status is due mainly to cultivating her image as a real "hot babe entrepreneur" (instead of another BH fake girl persona). If we followed the gurus' self-inflation techniques more than their magic systems, we'd probably all be big time icons too.

zebrahat said:

To heck with the gurus! What you can learn from most of them is how to properly brand yourself online (by following not their SEO or IM methods, but the means by which they have promoted and huckstered themselves into a authority position. Sometimes their fame has nothing to do with their students' success rate, but with the unique marketing proposition they have as a meme on the web. Look at the ummm, hottie Forleo previously mentioned---her guru status is due mainly to cultivating her image as a real "hot babe entrepreneur" (instead of another BH fake girl persona). If we followed the gurus' self-inflation techniques more than their magic systems, we'd probably all be big time icons too.

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That is true . . . Just watch their free "Pitch Webinars" and study their
sales pages and emails. Those cost nothing and there is more value
to those than anything they are selling. They are experts in appealing
to newbie marketers who have "Shiny Objects Syndrome".

They follow Matt Cunts and listen to his every word, so I already have a dislike for the term. I think that many "White Hat" guys are so cautious that they struggle for results and some niches are completely out of reach and out of touch for them. You nailed it "Self Inflation Techniques" seem to be what they offer first. I can not speak for everyone, nor do I try to, but most of the "White Hat" "experts" I have met liked to talk a big game and say little in the process.

LOL! another WH thread.

there is nothing called white hat seo except adwords.
-=-

whatrat said:

Take Mari Smith, Ryan Deiss etc. Their products just never logistically work when you put them into action, the tasks they set never add up (these days I can see it from a mile away when I see them give their "step-by-step plan"). Too vague, too general, too simplified, and waaaay too hyped.

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They are serving 2 main target groups - newbies with spare cash & people who want to dream stories of glory (info-junkies looking for their next hit). Both markets are ever-green.