interactive information sharing with friends like networking sites. link wheel is involves creating multiple blog posts on multiple different sites.
Surely it depends on keywords competition, But generally it takes 3 to 6 months to get top ranking of keywords.
Generally speaking, 3 to 6 months for average competitive phrases and longer for highly competitive key phrases.
In my experience, for a not very tough competition, it takes a around 3-5 months before I see my pages on first page. But it requires a lot of time building links.
Absolutely depends on the on site optimisation and off site strategy, alongside the competition. Anywhere from 1 day to 3 months typically. I disagree on the black hat tactics...some are not going to get you banned. Stupid ones will, and misuse of black hat techniques will lead to a ban. Clever thought out tactics will rank you faster and stick you faster. Trust me, I know MANY high profile companies, whose SEO is blackhat...
It really does depend on a lot of things, the competition as you mention, the age of the site, the age of the backlinks, the authority of the backlinks, and lots of other factors, you won't get a straight answer because it really does depend on a lot of other things
I hear lots of 3-6 months to rank a new site at number 1, but is that not usually the standard for sites that are not new? Does Google not sandbox your site if it is new? How can it be 3-6 months?