Reuse the same images throughout your pages whenever possible. They'll reload instantly if they're in cache. Avoid busy animations and blinking text. Try designing your pages so text loads near the top. If you have large graphics at the top, your viewers may give up before the image is loaded.
Text loads quickly.
You can give them something to read while the graphic is downloading. Use plenty of white space and indentation in your site. Background colors and patterns help a page stand out, but they can be in the way if they make it hard to load or read. Bear in mind that many readers will be viewing your page at 256 colors, so any higher-resolution colors will be lost and may create undesirable effects. If you're trying to attract viewers you have to make your site visually catching.