[added October 11, 2004: I write this blog as if nobody I know will ever read it, so some of the posts will seem a bit crazy. I also did not expect this page to get deep linked by any popular sites, however SEW Forums did that here.

Since I feel a bunch of people are going to bash me and some may perhaps view this as "my side of the story" I want to put a bit more context to the post.

• Daniel Brandt created a tool which he mentioned in search engine watch forums.
• I thought it was a cool tool and put a form box on my site and called the page "the Daniel Brand Toolbar" ... I was trying to give him credit for something that he made that I thought was cool. That is why his name was in the title.
• Other people (mostly bloggers I think) thought it was a useful tool and pointed many links from a bunch of random blogs with "Daniel Brandt Toolbar" as the link text at my post.
• Based on how often I had seen Daniel's name around I did not think anything of it. I did not actively promote that page at all and I did not expect it to rank high for his name.
• Eventually I reformatted my site to advertise my ebook on each page of the site and also added my site title to the end of the page titles.
• Without me intentionally promoting the page it ranked at #3 in Google for Daniel Brandt on its own.
• I do not usually use the phrase "secret squirrel" as strong sales copy, but Mr. Brandt thinks that page was set up to sell tons of ebooks.
• Daniel sent me what I and many of my friends considered to be an insulting and degrading email saying I was trying to use his name to make money. Initially I posted about his tool because I thought it was useful. That is what most bloggers do. It is not like I was trying to not give him credit for his work.
• I thought that email was over the top and posted it publicly at SearchGuild.
• While I was in transit to SEO Roadshow in London (NFFC is cool by the way) Daniel made threatening comments in relationship to how he may have destroyed MicroDoc news and how I was next. In the SearchGuild thread while I was in transit to London:

  If Aaron takes my name out of the title, removes my form from his site, and links only to my set-up educational page, I'll remove the blocks. Currently my blocks include a copy of my email to him. Soon I think I'll add some commentary to these blocks that is more to the point. It's his choice.

• Daniel being Daniel made demands and threats without giving time for any sort of reply.
• By the time I got back Daniel Brandt had blocked referals from my site and started linking into his biography of me.
• If Daniel would have simply asked me to change how the tool was listed or whatever he wanted it would have happened.
• Instead he was rude and talked about how low SEOs were and how I was a really low one at that.
• By the time I even notice any of his threat / request he already has his biography of me up on his site.
• I decide "the hell with Daniel Brandt," if he is going to publish a biography of me on his site I may as well rank #1 for his name.
• Currently I believe this post, my SEO Book site, and the SearchGuild thread are all on the first page of Google when one searches for Daniel Brandt. Had he just in any polite way asked me this would not be the situation.
• I find it absurd that Daniel of all people would complain about someone trying to make their name off the work of another as he seems to try to make his from Google.
• Other than creating this post and linking it to the two other pages I am not (to the best of my knowledge) actively promoting these pages.
• If Daniel wants me to depromote these posts / threads he can unblock my site, remove my biography, and write an open apology for his insulting letter and needless threats.
• Why did Mr. Brandt make that tool public in the first place and then promote it in SEO forums if he was going to send SEOs insulting emails for linking into it?

About Me:
I am rather blunt most of the time. I am not exceptionally successful and I am generally isolated from most of society. On the web I have a voice. It may be a self absorbed voice, but I make sure I have one.

Occassionally that voice steps on some toes. Evidentally recently it happened to Daniel Brandt.

What Daniel Brandt Knows:
Apparently I pissed off Daniel Brandt.

He assumes the wrong address (though my address is easy to find out).

He knows one of my screen names (awall19) though I have many...which are easy to find out.

He knows of 14 of my domains (though I have registered about 100 and some of them are registered through proxy).

My Fan Page:
Interesting enough, one of my first fan pages is a hate page. Recently in emails I have been called unpatriotic and a terrorist. People are swarming, but I am having fun...

Kinda makes me wonder what crap famous people put up with every day?

Me & Daniel Brandt

• My fan / hate page (how bloggers like me game Google)...was inspired by the following
  
• The original blog post which was ranking well for Daniel Brandt.
  
• The forum thread which further pissed off Daniel Brandt.

Notice how I used Daniel Brandt in the text links above. That is keyword rich anchor text and is the practice that Daniel calls Google Bombing. It heavily influences Google's relevancy scores, and is one of the primary reasons Mr Brandt has got as much news coverage as he has.