Today marks the end of 2024, and I want to share the growth journey of my passion project. Those of you who follow me on LinkedIn know that I created the Coldplay India fan site- coldplayindia.com. What started as a passion project has now gained 140k+ impressions with 16k+ active users in just 3 months. Guess what? More than 60% of the traffic is coming organically! No paid Ads! Today, I’ll talk about how I scaled this website from 0 to 140k+ impression in just under 90 days!
Let’s unwrap this growth journey and the product lessons.
Update as of 29th Jan, 2025: The website now has-
🎵 38k+ total active users
🎵 18% returning users
🎵 450k+ impressions on Google
🎵 60%+ organic traffic
🎵 4 out of 9 posts ranked in Google’s top 10 search results
🎵 750+ newsletter subscribers
🎵 2 ad opportunities
I launched my first website back in 2012, focusing on tech and blogging.
That website was my gateway into the world of SEO and digital marketing.
It’s where I experimented endlessly with keywords and strategies, learning the ropes of online growth.
By 2014, I had successfully scaled it to 2k+ MAU (monthly active users) and even secured Google AdSense publisher status.
But due to career commitments, I had to let it go. (Fun fact: My AdSense account still has some unclaimed dollars sitting idle!)
Fast forward 10 years, and I felt the itch to try and experiment again.
That’s how coldplayindia.com was born—and scaling it up has been nothing short of exhilarating!
Here’s to rediscovering old passions and creating something meaningful all over again. 🙌
My Toolkit
Hosting account: Hostinger
Domain registrar: Namecheap
CMS: WordPress
Theme: Astra
Page builder: Spectra
Why did I Start ColdplayIndia.com
A natural question anyone might ask: Why would a product management professional start a fan site for a global music band?
As a long-time Coldplay fan, I’ve always been inspired by their music journey.
When the band announced their 2025 India concert, I noticed a growing buzz but realised there wasn’t a dedicated space for Indian fans to share updates about the concert.
That’s when the idea for ColdplayIndia.com was born. 🎸
ColdplayIndia.com became my way to combine passion with my product skills—experimenting with SEO, community building, and scaling a website from scratch.
It’s been an exciting side project and a refreshing reminder of why I love creating things that resonate with people.
Sometimes, the best ideas come when passion meets opportunity!
User Research
As soon as I registered the domain on Namecheap, my PM instincts kicked in, and I asked myself, “Who is going to visit my website, a.k.a. who are the users for this product?”
User research is the most important piece of the puzzle because, unless you understand your audience, you won’t know what you’re building
In general, the majority of concert-goers fall within the 18-35 age group.
Within this age range, I categorised them into three distinct personas based on their behaviours.
Group1: Relatively young Gen-Z audience
Profile: They are known for having shorter attention spans and are often budget-conscious, as they may rely on pocket money from their parents.
The FOMO (fear of missing out) factor is higher in this age group due to peer and social influence.
Type of content that could work: Short-form content and tweets, catering to their shorter attention spans.
Group2: Fans who just started their careers
Profile: Young professionals who have started their careers and now have a decent disposable income.
The FOMO factor is higher in this age group for fans who have been following the band since the beginning.
For others, due to career commitments, the FOMO factor might not play as significant a role compared to Group 1.
Type of content that could work: Short-form content and tweets for those with shorter attention spans. Long-form content for hardcore fans who don’t mind spending more time engaging due to FOMO.
Group3: Experienced fans(millennials and older)
Profile: These fans have established careers and substantial disposable income. Many of them may have missed the chance to see Coldplay in 2016 and are eager for the opportunity to attend the 2025 concert.
The FOMO factor applies mainly to those fans who are truly desperate to attend the concert, assuming they missed out in 2016.
Type of content that could work: Long-form blog posts, as they have higher attention spans compared to younger groups.
Content Research
Now that I understand who my potential audience is for the website, my next question was, “What are they looking for? a.k.a., what content will they search for about this event?”
In product management terminology, this is asking, “What do my users want?”
Well, I’m a fan myself, so it’s relatively easy to put myself in their shoes.
I created a list of topics that, as a fan, I would naturally be curious about when attending a Coldplay concert or any concert in general.
Thanks to Reddit and X posts, I’ve been constantly scouting these communities to see what fans are searching for regarding the Coldplay India concert.
I’ve also used Google Trends to track rising search interest for Coldplay-related search terms.
User generated content on social media is a great source of content creation ideas
Finally, I prioritized these two pain points of fans and decided to write content around these topics.
With tickets selling out in a couple of minutes, many fans were left frustrated and disappointed.
Out of desperation, some fans resorted to purchasing tickets from scalpers, which made me think, “If I’m a fan buying a ticket from a stranger, what’s the guarantee I’m not being scammed?”
And there it was—another content idea: a ticket verification guide!
How ChatGPT Accelerated My Content Editing
I’d be lying if I said I haven’t used ChatGPT for content editing.
I’ve leveraged ChatGPT for refining my writing and improving the blog post structure to make it more SEO-friendly and appealing to fans.
Here are the prompts I’ve used for refining the content:
Prepare a skeleton structure with sections and subheadings for a blog post. The topic is “How to Verify Coldplay Tickets.”
You’re an SEO expert. Analyze the following blog post and identify areas for improvement, along with recommendations. My target audience is the 18-30 age group, who are Coldplay fans. They are looking for the ticket verification process as they are purchasing tickets from resellers, and there could be potential scams. Your recommendations should be crisp and clear. Here is my blog post: <post content>
You’re an SEO expert. Rate the following blog post based on these three parameters: keyword relevance, overall keyword density, and keywords in subheadings. My long-tail keyword is “how to verify Coldplay tickets.” Here is my blog post: <post content>
Suggest a blog post title for the following content. Make sure the title is SEO-rich, with my keyword incorporated. My keyword is “how to verify Coldplay tickets.” Here is my blog post: <post content>
Alternatively, I’ve also used the WordPress Yoast SEO plugin to optimize my blog posts.
Yoast SEO provides a real-time checklist of recommendations for blog posts, helping writers ensure that the post is optimized for search engines.
Below is the checklist and results from Yoast SEO for the blog post on verifying Coldplay tickets. As you can see, my content has passed all the checks, making it SEO-ready!
How Did I Scale This Website?
Once I had the content ready, I published it right away.
I posted a couple of blog posts about the Coldplay band and a detailed seating guide for the Mumbai show.
What worked for me was timing.
The Coldplay ticket sale was approaching, and I published the content two days before the sale event, which helped warm up my content for web crawlers.
Here are the results after one day.
11k+ impressions in just 1 day and my content was ranking at top 6 in Google search!
A week later, the results looked like this (from September 20 to September 27):
On the ticket sale day, September 22nd, the website saw 250+ real-time users!
As the Mumbai show tickets sold out in minutes, fans began seeking tickets from sellers. I added a guide to verify tickets, which also contributed significantly to the traffic.
October: I saw a dip in traffic in October as the ticket sale in India was over and the fan buzz had cooled down.
To improve fan engagement, I conducted fan polls, which resulted in 800+ entries.
This is reflected in the spikes between October 10th and October 30th.
November: There was a big spike in traffic again when the Ahmedabad show was announced and the ticket sale went live on November 16th.
The major cause of this spike in traffic: I added a blog post on the Ahmedabad seating plan as soon as the Ahmedabad show was announced.
December: There haven’t been any spikes, but as the January concert date approaches, we’ve seen the average search ranking position improve from 8.3 to 8, with impressions increasing by nearly 47k.
Launch of Newsletter
My initial idea was to share information with fans as much as possible and limit myself to blog posts.
However, as a fan, I realized I would prefer to receive updates rather than checking the website myself. I wanted to be notified!
That’s when I came up with the newsletter idea.
It was an instant hit!
The newsletter gained 200+ subscribers in just one week.
For reference, my newsletter on xten10x.com only gained 20 subscribers in first week!
Creating a community turned out to be more engaging because I now have a more direct way to reach out to users and provide them with concert updates.
It has gained 700+ subscribers, with a staggering ~17% CTA, which beats the industry average email CTR of 3-5%.
Content Marketing Strategies
To drive traffic to ColdplayIndia.com, I implemented a multi-channel content strategy tailored to different audience segments:
1️⃣ Long-form Content:
Target Audience: Group 3 and Group 2 fans searching for in-depth information about Coldplay, such as concert details, ticket availability, and behind-the-scenes stories.
Why it works: Long-form, SEO-optimized articles attract search traffic from people looking for comprehensive, reliable resources.
It caters to fans who prefer reading detailed insights and ensures the website ranks higher on Google for relevant queries.
2️⃣ Tweets on X:
Target Audience: Group 1 Social media-savvy fans who follow trending updates and enjoy engaging with quick, interactive content.
Why it works: Tweets provide bite-sized updates, polls, and conversation starters, creating a real-time buzz.
This approach keeps fans engaged, encourages them to share posts, and drives immediate traffic to the website.
3️⃣ Newsletter:
Target Audience: Dedicated fans who want exclusive updates, and reminders delivered straight to their inbox.
Why it works: Newsletters allow for direct communication with fans, fostering a sense of exclusivity and loyalty.
By consistently delivering valuable content, I kept the audience engaged and encouraged repeat visits to the website.
This holistic approach not only boosted traffic but also created a thriving community around the site.
Key Takeaways From This Journey
Looking back at this 3-month journey, it has been an incredible practical learning experience.
- I finally managed to get back into the keyword research and content research space, thanks to Reddit and X, which helped me find user search queries and their intents.
- As a product manager, my core expertise lies in identifying user needs, creating impactful solutions, and driving engagement—and I applied the same approach to building ColdplayIndia.com. Recognizing the growing buzz around Coldplay’s India tour, I adopted a customer-centric mindset to craft a website that fans truly value.
- From leveraging SEO strategies to optimize content, to prioritizing high-demand topics like ticket sales, seating guides, and travel tips, the blog operates much like a product roadmap.
- Data-driven insights guide updates, while engagement tools like newsletters and interactive features keep fans connected.
- SEO is still relevant if done right. While content is king, SEO is the queen!
- Building a community is a powerful way to build your brand.
- There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. You can experiment with content marketing strategies and keep users hooked to your website/product. Find out what resonates and stick to it.
All I can say is that this project showcases how product management skills—market research, roadmap execution, and growth strategies—can seamlessly translate into building engaging, monetizable platforms in any domain.
With Coldplay concert dates approaching in 3 weeks, I’ll be pushing out more relevant and engaging content for the audience and experimenting with new content marketing strategies.
Conclusion
If you’re a PM like me, or a software developer, or anyone in a different field, create a project/product of your own and showcase your skills.
No amount of theoretical knowledge will help as much as passion projects like these.
2024 has been a year of experimenting, building, and connecting.
I’m incredibly excited to carry this momentum into 2025 and cook up something even spicier! Stay tuned for more updates!
And if you’re wondering if I managed to get the Coldplay tickets—Yes, I’m going to attend the show on January 25th to watch the iconic music band light up the world’s largest stadium in Ahmedabad!
That’s all for today, see you again!
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