Before we go on, we need to go over something. When you include images on your page, remember that they contain a lot of data and therefore can be slow to load. One way to reduce the size (by size I mean Kb) is to reduce the dimensions. Cutting the length and width in half results in an image only 1/4 the size in Kb. Also you can reduce the number of colors. For example:

Dimensions 310 x 304 # of colors- 238 Size - 69 Kb
Dimensions 207 x 203 # of colors- 238 Size- 34 Kb	Dimensions 207 x 203 # of colors- 48 Size - 19 Kb

All image editing was done with Paint Shop Pro.
(An older, non time limited version is available here. Even though it's older and not as fancy
as the latest version, it is a GREAT graphics editor - PERFECT for new web authors.)

Now granted, the first one is a larger, nicer and better quality picture, but think of it this way... if your page takes forever to load, your visitors will probably leave and they won't see anything.