In Conversation with Amit Diwan
A lot of youth aspire to be successful YouTubers, with millions of followers and millions of monthly views; this is not a cakewalk for sure. We have with us Mr. Amit Diwan who has been very successful in decoding the YouTube algorithm and achieving a milestone which is an aspiration for a lot of us.
The secret of being successful on YouTube
There has been a lot of competition in this niche, over 1000 channels are providing programming-related videos and promoting them with Google Ads. We do not go for Google Ads on YouTube; all our traffic is organic. However, I firmly believe organic content is given more exposure by YouTube algorithms. Amit Diwan also said, that the actual traffic and revenue of our YouTube channel ‘Amit Thinks’ come from organic searches and suggested videos.
If your video is good, YouTube algorithms will automatically recommend your content. We focus on creating content for a single user to begin with. We work to help whosoever is coming to our channel, Even if a single viewer can extract some value from our content, our purpose is fulfilled. We are sure, that once the viewer gets the desired value then that user will come back for more content.
Therefore, on our channel, you can see that our programming videos cover a lot of sub-topics. It would fetch fewer views. We firmly believe “Content is the King”; therefore, we have always been focused on creating quality content. If the content is good and adds value, then viewers will come back and subscribe also so that they don’t miss out on good content. Therefore in case someone wants to excel on YouTube, delivering quality content is imperative and one should be focused more on teaching and explaining the concepts; said Amit Diwan.
Along with, delivering content to your viewers; we ensure to stay connected with our audience through multiple platforms; people can connect with us through Instagram, and our YouTube community also. We are there to service them anytime they want us to be there.
Currently, all our paid courses are live on top edtech marketplaces, such as Packt, O’Reilly, Tutorialspoint, GeekforGeeks, SkillShare, Reed.co.uk, Codedamn, etc. The total enrolments on all these platforms have crossed 60,000. Amit Diwan added’, the monthly views on our YouTube channel “Amit Thinks” are over 2 million.
Well, the core thought was to provide a complete package of courses. We are providing study material, i.e., the notes on the website and the video course on the YouTube channel. A lot of companies and YouTube channels are providing programming and web development courses. We are focusing more on creating short courses on technologies on which not many would focus, such as XAMPP, Workbench, GIMP, Adobe Express (a Canva alternative), etc. Even if the reach and volume of the topic are not so good, we focus only on the content; the rest is up to destiny.
Reviving from the initial challenges were funding and people management. We continued with our freelancing work to cope with the company’s expenses. My freelancing gigs were not my clients. Also, it is always difficult for a startup to hire since, before 2020, everybody wanted to work for an MNC.
Now, the wave is different, especially after Shark Tank, when the startup culture has evolved. When we started, the interns and fresher employees were also offered free courses. I remember teaching WordPress to interns so that they could also work and learn, to their benefit.
My motivation to keep going comes from another love ‘Cricket’; sports teaches you a lot and also keeps you charged to keep going. Sports always helps you to distract when you are stressed and also rejuvenates you to the core.
Uncovering Amit Diwan:
After doing MCA, Amit got placed at Accenture, Bangalore. The joining got delayed, and that allowed Amit to continue the freelancing work to establish his own company one day. That is the time when Amit did three government jobs. After these jobs, to gain exposure, Amit did a job at C# Corner, Noida, where he learned a lot about people management in the IT sector.
That was Amit’s last job. By now, Amit was ready to start his venture. Meanwhile, Amit did some corporate training stints for TutorialsPoint.com and created some video courses on trending technologies for them. Those were the days when Amit established his own company, Studyopedia.
The website had free study material; however, the YouTube channel “Amit Thinks” has video courses which was started in 2019, and intentionally kept a peculiar name, i.e., “Amit Thinks.”; where he uploaded programming, web development, and database courses for free. I founded Studyopedia.com before moving towards video content development.
The COVID wave pushed content creation more due to WFH. The WFH allowed a lot of us to work more since the travel time was cut down.
Apart from this, Amit Diwan has been recognized with the Excellence in Education and India Prime Icon Award for Education & Social Leadership awards for achieving 55 Million+ Views across YouTube with 1.9 Million+ Hours of Watch time.
Advise to aspiring YouTubers:
As an education YouTuber, I would suggest your first goal should be to teach and focus on delivering value to your viewers; the rest will follow. Since my channel is focused on teaching programming, I have always focused on explaining the concepts with examples; otherwise, viewers would have not stuck to the channel and would have easily switched to another channel.
If you see my journey, from where I started and where I have reached, this has been possible only as I have always done what I wanted to do and what I loved. Initially, I started with an app for kids facing difficulty learning and writing. Unfortunately, the app was discontinued, but I learned a lot while working in that venture.
For budding entrepreneurs, I can only say to focus on your dedication to your work instead of your money. Amit Diwan also advised, If you are fully dedicated and committed to your vision, then you just need to be consistent with your efforts, and everything will follow.
