I just finished my last placement match for 1v1, and it put me in gold. GOLD!  I'm not good at this game, especially not gold good. I was hoping for silver at the most.  I think I just got lucky in those placement matches.  Are people in gold really good?  
 
Okay, my biggest problem might not be that I suck, but more that I'm inexperienced.  I'm still clicking most things instead of using the keyboard.  I'm trying to train myself to use the keyboard, but when things get frantic I go back to just clicking.  Anway, I just think that the people in gold will have more experience with strategies and everything and I'm going to get destroyed.  If I lose a bunch will a go down a level?  How many do I have to lose?

I played absolutely no multi-player in SC1, and I went in cold here, having done no research. I, too got placed in Gold, and had the same worries as you. 
 
Know this, though: I've gone 6-9 in my matches while in Gold-League (I'm currently somewhere around 60-70th in my division), which I'll grant you isn't all that impressive, but nor is it bad enough that I feel like I have no hope of winning. It's also meant that I've been learning (and quite quickly) what I've been doing wrong, and every match has been a learning experience for me. 
 
It's also worth noting that you won't only face opponents from Gold-League, you'll also face silver-league players even when playing matches in Gold-League. So don't worry about it, just get out there and start playing.

Looks like you'll need to get better fast or suffer a few losses. Gods speed. 

Well if you think about it, there's 5 leagues (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond). Gold is the middle, so you could take it as being average. So... you're an average player? Congrats!
 
Realistically, with such a large influx of new players, and probably a fair share of people who have had no prior RTS experience, Gold probably isn't as competitive as its name might make you think. I mean, I placed Bronze after my placements in beta phase 1, Silver in beta phase 2, and then Gold in retail (disconnect in 5th game counted as a loss... @#$%). I think you'll be just fine in Gold, though if it turns out you're not and it really was just luck in your placements, the matchmaking will figure that out eventually and will bump you down as necessary.

The matchmaking system learns from your games. If you don't belong in the ladder, then it will bump you down. If you stay in the ladder, you belong there.

Unless you lost 5 matches and got placed in Gold, you are not as bad as you think. Like some other poster said, Gold is not 1st place, its like 3rd place, and in a bell curve that means you are average. 

The ladder is just meant to be pretty, pay attention to the rank of the people you're fighting, that's your real rank. Even when I was in gold, 7 out of 10 games were vs diamond players, with the other 3 being platinum.

The placement system can be abit jenky. Had sorta the same problem. Won my first 4 placements quite easy, as I got served bronze and low silver players. Then for my platinum I barely won an even fight (which was probably one of my best fights ever) against a low ranked platinum that had basically lost every match after placement and then I end up in platinum. Sure, I guess I perform on platinum level when I'm at my best, but if you ask me I'm more of a mid-gold player. The problem seems to be that the matchmaking is too heavily prioritized for speed, which makes the placement sorta hit and miss. Also really screws with matchups if you're in gold or platinum, as you'll end up mostly playing higher ranked players since they are generally more active.

Gold is actually Silver in comparison to the beta's league.
Blizzard removed or say rename the Bottom Tier COPPER (I guess it doesn't sound pleasing), to Bronze
and the Highest Tier is no longer Platinum, but Diamond.

Lucky, I started in silver and then when I started to do pretty good it dropped me to bronze.  I hardly want to play now  cuz people are so bad in bronze.

I am in the same boat as the OP. Never placed SC1 before and went into this cold. Went 3-2 in my placements and it put me in Gold. I haven't played a match yet in Gold but I am figuring I am going to get destroyed. 

just lose a bunch of matches and you'll go down to copper

The system is really good for placing you. If you're higher than you should be, you'll drop fast. Furthermore, just because you're IN a league, doesn't mean you play people in that league. If you're put in Gold, and you lose against a gold player, it will then match you against a silver. If you lose that, it'll match you against a bronze player. Etc. It'll keep lowering until you're facing people you compare too. At worst, you'll suffer very few losses early on, then you'll be perfectly fine. 
 
So don't worry about it too much if you place higher than you feel you deserve.

i played my placements just so i could play at bronze and not have to get some people who are good and still in the practice league

Plus the game takes other data like your APM and such into account so if people played trying to mimic the style and technique of Good SC2 players we see on youtube, the game probably thinks you are better then you really are.

" @StaticFalconar said:

Plus the game takes other data like your APM and such into account so if people played trying to mimic the style and technique of Good SC2 players we see on youtube, the game probably thinks you are better then you really are.

I was under the impression that the game does *not* take into account "other" data (like APM) when determining your ranking. "

Quoted from Blizzard's FAQ:   

Q. Does the system take into account stats gathered from within a match, e.g. actions per minute (APM), units destroyed, etc.?
A. No, the system only cares about whether a match was won or lost, and the skill of the participants.

" Quoted from Blizzard's FAQ:   

Q. Does the system take into account stats gathered from within a match, e.g. actions per minute (APM), units destroyed, etc.?
A. No, the system only cares about whether a match was won or lost, and the skill of the participants.

   When they say "skill of the participants" I think they're just talking about ranking but I could be wrong, it is pretty vague. "