WebProNews writer Chris Crum has responded to an earlier post about the eBusiness Directory. Thanks, all understood and best wishes, like I originally said. We do need good directories.

An update on my experience: I received six, yes, six acknowledgments for my two submissions (or was it for just one of them – can’t tell from the generic response). No, I did not make multiple submissions, so there must have been a glitch somewhere.

Thank you for confirming your recent submission to webpronews.

If approved, your listing will be live within 3 to 5 business days.

Either my sites did not make the grade, or there is a dmoz-like queue of sites waiting to be approved. I’ll try submitting some top-tier sites (that I do not own) and see if they show up. You should do likewise and help make it a terrific directory!

Popularity: 38% [?]

Google is testing new fonts for some publishers in its AdSense ads. The image at right shows Microsoft’s Comic Sans font, which accompanies Microsoft Office (or Windows). I didn’t alter the JavaScript for the ad, but I came to the ad from a Google Search, so I suspect that was where Google noted in my environment variables that I have Office and Windows loaded.

I checked Webmasterworld and found that I was not alone. Others have noted fonts such as Times New Roman and Georgia, but I was not able to replicate such fonts by reloading the page. I don’t use the Comic Sans font anywhere and I agree that it makes a professional page look amateurish – I belong to a nonprofit organisation where another volunteer keeps using it in conference flyers.

Nevertheless, many AdSense publishers have blended these ads into their pages so well that a visitor might accidentally click an ad that looks like a menu selection. By changing the font at random, Google can reduce this possibility. While it may seem that Google is reducing its income from such accidental clicks, the advertiser will appreciate getting a higher conversion rate because the clicks will come from people who intended to click the ad.

“AdSense Advisor” in another Webmasterworld thread confirmed that this is a test and they are monitoring the results. I hope that Google retains the random fonts but omits Comic Sans from the repertoire.

Popularity: 41% [?]