Overall it looks good. But I would also say that the drop shadow under the menu is too overpowering. And the shadow from the right boxes are also a bit strong. They detract from the central content, which is probably not what you were aiming for. It will be much more efficient to have the...
These are all good tips. I was lucky enough to have already had a forum account before I launched my blog. So I switched my signature to link to my blog and I think it helped. It was indexed pretty quickly. But the trick is to not build too many too fast, that can raise suspicion too.