The hit state is invisible on the button. The only visible states are the up, over, and down. As I mentioned, the hit state only specifies the trigger area.
If your button is just going to be words, then you definitely need a hit state because the only clickable part would be the letters. Thats why you put a rectangle in the hit state (yes you have to have a keyframe there). It will make the triggerable area anywhere within the rectangle that was placed in the hit state. That rectangle will not show up at all because it is in the hit state. If you want to see the rectangle when you are holding down the mouse button, you would need to put it in the down frame.
Hope this helps. It is confusing, but once you get it, buttons are easy.