How long does it take for a new site to begin showing up in google
searches?  Is there anything that can shorten the time?

Normally about 4-6 weeks if it has been submitted properly and is
created with robots in mind. For much more information on this
subject, please read the following two link pages, as they will give
you a much better perspective on what to do and what to expect.

://www.google.com/webmasters/

http://www.searchengineworld.com/spiders/google_faq.htm

Thanks,

webadept-ga