[jcorkern]

This is a very tough subject. My take is to do it right and build your business, and this is white hat. Building online is just like a brick and mortar business, it does not happen overnight. Now, when you get it built, you have a lasting business with a good foundation that will stand the test of time. And this is what white hat is all about. Like marketraise stated. you may take a few months to see results, but they will stick when you get there.

Black hat is really an art form, but not one i would practise. you can get almost instant traffic and you may even make good money for a few months, but then you will get caught, then you have to start the process over again, so, you have a 2 week to 6 week dead time getting started again. and the cycle goes on and on...

This is my point, if you sacrafice the first few months to do it right, you then have a growing business, if you choose blackhat, you have a 1 month to 6 week break every few months, lets say you have to start over 4 times in a year because of black hat at 6 weeks each. that is 24 weeks you are losing traffic doing black hat, you can get white hat rankings in 3 months and it never ends as long as you continue working. So, who is the smarter business?

Do not go on a football field with a baseball bat and you never have to worry about getting thrown out.

Hope this helps.