I realized this week that I have written a lot of blog posts in the past three and a half years. When I started in 2013, I was basically writing for myself for a good six months. Literally, some weeks there were like seven page views and I think they were all mine or my mother’s.

This week, while looking for a post to link to, I realized that I had a lot of posts from 2013 and 2015 that contained some great information that is still relevant. So since it’s hard to search on this site and we had a lot of new readers join us this summer, this week and next week I’m going to do a recap post of some of my favorites buried in the archives.

Here are five posts that are worth a read (or maybe even a second read):

1. The Importance of Having a Niche: Or How I Learned I Wasn’t a Fish Writer – I know I harp on having a niche, but this post details exactly why. Every time I go outside my niche, I regret it and I end up spending a gazillion hours and turning in something that is a step above crap, regardless of how I hard I try. I thought I learned my lesson, but last year I took a story about building a fire pit that actually turned out worse and the company’s legal department got involved (luckily before it went to print). I just got a request to do gardening content and as much as I love gardening, it is not my area of expertise. I’m hoping that the fact I referred it to a fellow writer is a sign I learned my lesson. The goal is not to end up with an annual version of this story.
2. What Writing about Turkeys Taught Me about Freelancing – Whenever I feel burned out with writing, it’s usually because I haven’t taken a project that feeds my soul (cheesy word choice, I know). I really can’t imagine that I will have a better moment as a freelancer than the one I wrote about in this story. I wrote a follow-up the next year – Can you Save the World as a Content Marketing Writer – explaining how to find more moments like this in Content Marketing Writing.
3. 5 Ways to Learn from My Content Marketing Mistakes – Pretty much everything I write about on this blog is because I learned it the hard way. So in 2014 I decided to write about all my mistakes. It was a bit unnerving when I ran out of space and had to do a sequel – 5 More Content Marketing Mistakes. These lessons are still relevant and hopefully will help someone else avoid stepping in the same holes that I did.
4. 10 Reasons You Are Not Making Six Figures as a Freelance Writer – This one was a follow-up to the  post I wrote about how I made six figures last year, but it didn’t get much play because I published it during the Presidents’ Day holiday (classic mistake). It is a little more direct than most of my posts, but I got frustrated at people telling me it wasn’t possible for them to earn six figures. I honestly think that most of the answers to succeeding as a content marketing writer are in this post.
5. Marketing Challenge – Last January, I hit a slump and I pretty much had no work. So to help myself and others that were in the same situation, I created a marketing challenge. I have heard from several writers that they saved this post to use as a reference, so I thought I would repost it for those readers who joined us this summer. And yes, the tactics in this post work as I detailed in my post How I Landed $50K in New Content Marketing Clients in 45 Days, which is a good read if you missed it.

Are there any topics that you would like to see on the blog? I’m always open for ideas and guest posts from other writers (I pay a $50 honorarium). Share your ideas and I will get to work!