Do You Read Web Ads?

A new study from Nielsen found that Web advertising was the least trusted form of advertising. For once, traditional media, including newspapers, TV and magazines, came out on top of the Web! 63% said they trust newspaper ads; 56% trusted TV spots and magazine ads; 26% trusted banner ads; and 34% trusted search ads. And finally, mobile advertising (via cell phone) was trusted by only 18% of respondents.

I have to say, this doesn’t really surprise me. While I am in full support of increasing your online presence, I generally recommend doing it in a non-paid or “earned” manner. This is the difference between public relations and advertising. Using PR tactics, you attempt to increase your exposure/communicate a message without paying for an ad placement.

I am not on board with Web advertising yet. I rarely pay any attention at all to online ads and I think most people would agree with me. Certainly, this study shows that, as well. I do, however, fully support increasing your visibility on search engines, which I would venture is a much more trusted source of information, and doing blogs (note: 61% of respondents in the study said they trusted blogs and other forms of consumer-generated media as reliable sources of information), Podcasts, joining social networks and more to reach out to your target publics. If you’re considering advertising, though, I agree: stick to the traditional media that you know your audience pays attention to.

Do you trust Web ads? Please weigh in with your thoughts.