I analyze a 10-year-old authority health/psychology site, WhatsYourGrief.com. The site receives 300,000+ pageviews per month (SimilarWeb estimate).
Due to Google’s health algorithm updates, numerous individuals have abandoned the health niche. However, this website serves as an exemplary model of how to construct a quality health-oriented site through the use of high-quality content and incorporating exceptional EAAT elements.
My primary goal for conducting this teardown is to pinpoint and suggest easy wins that can boost both traffic and revenue.
This is what I cover in this report:
- Website overview
- Major highlights
- Competitor overview
- Easy wins to increase revenue and/or traffic
- How much is this website worth (valuation)
- Actionable takeaways you can apply
Let’s get into it!
✅ Website Overview & Highlights
Although the website has remained stable for the past four years, I believe that it has not yet reached its full potential, given the vastness of the niche and the abundance of untapped content ideas.
Worth noting that there is a huge number of referring domains (7,200) pointing to it.
The website’s domain has been active since 2012, with numerous iterations that have focused on a blog about grief, the main topic covered by this site.
While each iteration was well-designed for its time, the current version stands out as exceptionally impressive, contributing to the site’s authority within the niche, albeit in a minor way.
Two counselors holding Master’s degrees in psychology are behind the site.
Highlights
- Stable traffic over the years
- The site’s online shop offers numerous digital products, such as ebooks.
- The site was developed by two niche experts, one of whom is a college professor specializing in the field.
- The site was created as a passion project, exemplified by the Share Your Grief project – a unique initiative that assists the community in dealing with grief.
- Strong social media presence with active Twitter (9k, Facebook (87k), Instagram (62k) and Pinterest accounts (940k monthly visits).
Top 3 Competitors
Here are similar competitors targeting the majority of the same keywords.
- USUrnsOnline.com – 385k visits per month according to SimilarWeb, a 20-year-old authority site
- GriefAndSympathy.com – 100k visits per month according to SimilarWeb, a similar site to whatsyourgrief, some additional revenue sources like memorial jewellery
- MyGriefAssist.com.au/ – 35k visits per month according to SimilarWeb, an Australian-based site about grief, similar content
Let’s get into the easy wins to grow this specific website.
🔥 4 Easy Wins To Grow This Website
There are opportunities to significantly grow this brand. I break down the following easy wins:
- Add more relevant content
- Add lead generation through BetterHelp program
- Improve on-page SEO
- Alternative traffic ideas to build a moat
Let’s get into it!
➡️ Win #1: Add more relevant content
The current content on the site is already performing well with over 90,000 ranking keywords.
However, we see significant potential for further growth in the niche through untapped content opportunities. It’s important to note that much of the existing content is user-generated and therefore not ranking as strongly.
Additionally, the top-ranking keywords are fairly basic, such as “quotes” and “ideas.” With an established authority, we believe the site could rank for more meaningful and relevant keywords.
If I were to take ownership of the site, my first step would be to hire a writer with expertise in psychology and conduct comprehensive keyword research to target more specific and valuable keywords like “online counseling,” “grief counseling,” and “best therapists for XY.”
Ranking for these keywords will open new opportunities for lucrative revenue sources like lead generation for online counseling.
➡️ Win #2: Add lead generation as an additional revenue source
Based on my experience in this niche, I’m aware of lucrative lead generation programs like Betterhelp that offer up to $100 for each trial user who registers on their platform.
With the current level of traffic, I believe that promoting such a program alone could overtake Mediavine’s earnings.
➡️ Win #3: Improve on-page SEO
On-page SEO is crucial for improving search engine rankings. I compiled six easy ways to enhance your on-page SEO.
💰 Break paragraphs
The font and size of the text in this case are readable, but the paragraphs are too clumped together and would benefit from being broken up.
When deciding how often to break paragraphs, it’s important to consider the content and the writer’s style. As a general rule, it’s best to start a new paragraph when you shift to a new idea, topic, or point.
A recommended practice is to aim for paragraphs of no more than 3-4 sentences.
💰 Add table of contents
Another easy win that will improve readability, navigation and finally SEO as it will be easier for Google bot to parse information on your site.
💰 Add/improve classic heading structure
There are some posts without any headings. Adding headings to your blog post provides several benefits:
Better organisation: Headings help to organize your content into sections, making it easier for readers to understand the structure of your post and navigate to the sections that interest them.
Readability: Breaking up your content with headings makes it more readable and easier to scan.
SEO: Search engine bots will have an easier time crawling and understanding your content.
While we are talking about SEO, I understand the complexity of the niche, but you should always try to create an outline with an existing heading based on your keyword research. This type of heading will not help.
➡️ Win #4: Alternative ways of attracting traffic
Although this business has already gained a decent following on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and through its newsletter, there are two opportunities that have been neglected by the authors, likely due to a lack of time.
The first opportunity is YouTube, which could attract additional traffic simply by adding “Share Your Grief” stories with music as a background.
The second opportunity is a podcast, which the owners attempted to start but discontinued after only a few episodes.
By connecting your social media networks, newsletter, website, and podcast, you can rapidly gain more listeners.
Unfortunately, this brand failed to do so.
💰 How Much Is this Website Worth?
Here are the assumptions I am making:
- 300,000 pageviews/mo according to SimilarWeb
- Primarily monetized by Mediavine display ads
As previously mentioned, this site is a passion project and is not likely to be sold in the foreseeable future.
However, it is currently under-monetized, with estimated earnings of around $7,000 to $10,000.
By implementing the easy wins mentioned earlier, particularly the lead generation program, I believe that the revenue could be doubled in a short amount of time.
As for the multiple, If I were to broker this site, I would put it in the range of 40-42X.
👉 Actionable Takeaways
Here are actionable takeaways that you can apply to your niche website today:
- Older authority sites can often succeed without proper SEO. However, by improving the site’s SEO, significant benefits can be achieved quickly. That’s the power of “authority sites”
- If you’ve already established authority in your niche, it’s important to maximize your position by creating more content that covers relevant topics. By consistently producing high-quality content that provides value to your audience, you can further establish your authority and attract more traffic to your website.
