Graphics

You can have as much graphic content on your Site as you like. You need a little, to break up the text and make the site more pleasing to the eye.

But what have your visitors come for? They've come because they're interested in the content (whatever it is that you're promoting or selling). Yes, the graphics will probably impress them on their first visit, but not if they have to wait ages for them to download. And after they've seen them once, the novelty has gone - it's back to the main reason for their visit, the content.

So don't make their first visit their last. Don't bombard them with so many heavy graphics that they are bored with the wait before they even get in. Let them get quickly and easily into and around the Site - it's this that will bring them back next time, not the flashy graphics.

Another thing to consider in this area is that with Search Engines, Text is King. Search Engines can't index graphics. They index the text. Some Search Engines attribute a level of importance to the keywords within your text, according to how near they are to the top of the document. If graphical content has pushed the key text items down the document, the page will be considered of lower importance than other pages containing the same keywords, and your page will therefore be listed further down the Search Engine index.