Splash Page or not
 

What is everyone's opinion on a splash / intro page for the main page (like at www.newjerseyboards.com )?

I actually had a large site say they wanted to link to my site today but only if I removed the Splash Page.

The main page does nothing really other than announce the site (no animation or anything) So I wont lose sleep over losing it.

What is everyone's opinion? Also, if I chose to remove it how could I have the main index page go directly into my boards which is at www.newjerseyboards.com/forums ? I dont really want to set a meta re-direct because it is going to take a few seconds and delay the web site form loading

Any input would be appreciated.

I don't like splash pages and I've read that it's not good SEO practice. Instead of a meta redirect, look into 301 redirects using your htaccess file. That should do the trick and it's search engine friendly.

The only reason this page might not be good for SEO, other then the META tags, You should add links in the footer to the more popular forum sections with the forum titles and the anchor text.

Cheers
-Brandon

I used them for years back in 2000... Now I think they are outdated and annoying. These days if people have to wait for flash or a large image to load on a splash page they'll move on quickly. ;)

Avoid splash pages, nobody misses them when they're not there.

I find them really annoying. 99 times out of 100, I know where I am anyway so I don't need a splash page telling me what I already know. And there isn't any content or links to what I might want. If I go to a site, it's to find some information and splash screens don't give you any of that.

It's similar to the seemingly endless list of credits at the beginning of some movies. If I wanted to know who the co-producers were, I'll wait through the end credits. In the meantime I want to be entertained, so give me the movie already... grumble grumble...