[andrewwee]

Most blogs, esp WordPress ones have the 'nofollow' tag, so it's good for organic traffic, but doesn't benefit you backlink-wise.

I get my sites indexed within 24-48 hours, usually by backlinking from one of my other PR5 sites.

Failing which you could register for a technorati account if you've a blog, or create a squidoo lens and point it to your site.

Other things to do include submitting articles and press releases.

There're also a number of grey/blackhat things you can do, but I wouldn't suggest doing them till you master the fundamentals.