Text first or Image?

Hello forum,
I was sitting down thinking after I read a chapter in SEO for Dummies Vol. 3, and had a few questions.

I have created a lot of pages using Wordpress.
Right below the single page h1 tag I have a image, then below the image is some stats, and then text to describe and additional information (with keywords).
My question is, should I have the text first, then image for better SEO? I believe that it was stated in the book, but I am not 100%. I know for images its good to have text by it to be indexed, but I am wondering about the page being indexed better, and not the image (alone).

Your response is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

It really depends...

What I usually do is custom edit each blog to get the best generic arrangement of key phrases without alot of duplicate words when that is next to post titles.

Example

<title><?php wp_title(); ?> » Editing Guide in Prose Composition @ <?php bloginfo('name'); ?></title>

and the visible title

<h1 id="header"><a href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>/"><img src="/wp-content/themes/new/wit.gif" alt="Freelance Writing" style="margin-left:0px;margin-top:0px;margin-right: 0px; border: 0px" /></a> <a style="margin-left:140px;margin-top:-5px"href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>/"><?php bloginfo('name'); ?></a><h2 style="font-size:14px; font-color:#376032; margin-left:10px; margin-right:220px;letter-spacing: 0.2em;margin-top:-5px;text-align:justify">Freelance Writers & Editors Guide in Prose Composition</h2><p style="font-size:12px; margin-left:10px; margin-right:220px;margin-top:0px;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:15px;">To achieve prominent exposure, business owners must draw on the power of useful, meaningful, and interesting content. Not just any content, but content that answers questions for the reader and offers resources to better understand the value of the goods and services being offered by a website. Clearly, finding a means to provide searchers with better reasons to visit is the way to increase ones value, reputation and integrity.</p>
</h1>

This is one of the more 'extreme' ones I've made.

So it depends on how much your title is keyword based vs. brand.

The value of an image you can (one example only) you can make the visible 'back to mainpage' "HOME" the understood value for humans and make the alt="" your keyword and no lose much either way.

Ok, but lets say I have a custom page like so:

<H1>Guess Watches</H1> (which is the page title to click and "refresh)
Image Here (with alt and title tags)

Stats (with keywords,)

Text.

________________________________
or this:

<H1>Guess Watches</H1>
Text (detailed explanation of the watches)

Image Here (with al and title tags)

Stats (with keywords)

_________________________________

Of the two examples post above, which is more "SEO Friendly".

Either or...

Your asking the wrong questions... at the end of the day it's like stock car racing... all the cars are pretty much identical... each team has their own theories but in the end no one get's beat by the car... it's the driver's that make the difference... in your case "It's the links to the domain that will make the difference"... not the use of an image or not.

Although it kills me to do it I have to agree with Fathom. It doesn't matter where you're placing the image, above or below the text. Place it where ever it looks best, because it's not going to have an impact on SEO.

I want to throw in a wrench.... no one has mentioned the visual appearance of the page. Could that be more important than the position of elements in the code? Google has the ability to collect information on visitor behavior.

Don't you think that would be more valuable information for their success than position of lines in the code?

...I don't think the image of a wrench adds much to a watch site... unless "see... our watches can take a licking [SMASH]... and keeps on ticking!"