Calan Breckon • Updated September 19, 2023
More and more people are flocking to online learning so it makes sense that platforms like Searchie are becoming more popular for online businesses.
With Searchie, content creators can monetize their knowledge with digital products, video and audio content and then sell those products online through its platform. There are quite a few to choose from and if you’re looking for a comparison you can check out the post where I ranked the 7 best membership site platforms at the bottom of this article.
In this Searchie review, I’m going to break it all down for you so that by the end you’ll know if Searchie is the right platform for you or not.
Let’s dive in.
What is Searchie?
Searchie is a course and membership platform designed by content creators for content creators. It was created by Stu McLaren from The Membership Experience (formerly TRIBE) who has spent years learning about and perfecting the membership model business which means he knows exactly what we as the consumers need and want from a web based software platform now.
Searchie is where a content creator can build and sell their digital products (like a digital course or membership) in order to quickly create monthly recurring revenue and build a successful online business.
The platform uses innovative features to help you quickly create, build and launch your online course or membership business and provides you with unmatched support while you do it. It also offers competitive pricing starting at $29/mo, that’s cheaper than other platforms, and has a 7-day free trial with no credit card required in order to try it out.
The best part about Searchie
The best part about Searchie in my opinion is the searchability of your content. Searchie automatically transcribes everything you upload and if a user searches a word in the search bar Searchie scours everything, not just your content titles, and will present every piece of content you have where you mentioned that word.
On top of that, it will say how many times the word was mentioned and can also take users to the exact moments inside the video or audio content where the word was said.
You can think of it as a search engine on steroids.
It’s amazing for users looking for a specific topic and equals a lot less wasted time searching for things.
Who should use Searchie?
Searchie is perfect for any content creator looking to monetize and create a successful online business through courses and memberships.
- Coaches
- Personal Trainers
- Teachers
- Yoga Instructors
- Podcasters
- Influencers
- Authors
- Bloggers
- Speakers
- Experts
- HR Support hub
This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, but if you fit into one of these categories then Searchie could be perfect for you and your online marketing and business creation needs.
Searchie Pros
- Drag and Drop website building (no coding needed!)
- Stripe integration makes payments easy
- 0% transaction fees
- Supports audio and video content uploads from multiple platforms
- Built-in automatic Transcripts for uploads
- Everything is automatically searchable because of the automated transcripts
- Ad-free video and audio hosting (you can use it like YouTube, Vimeo, etc)
- Unlimited Searchie Chrome extension recordings on all plans
- Automatically converts for mobile-friendly use
- They offer a robust support website with hundreds of help videos and do quite a lot of town hall meetings where creators get to ask questions and propose ideas
- Analytics
- You can host a Podcast on it
- Drip Content (currently in beta)
- Feedback roadmap where you get to suggest and vote on new tools as the platform grows
- The best support team I’ve interacted with by far
I have to give a shout-out to this last one because the support team they have working at Searchie is full of the most caring and amazing people. Any time I’ve ever run into an issue they’ve been super speedy at responding and either fixing the issue right away or keeping me updated every step of the way.
I’ve not experienced such phenomenal support from any other program I’ve used thus far.
I also use Searchie to host the video content for my online courses that I host on ThriveCart. It works really well since you can grant access to specific websites from Searchie so only my ThriveCart course students can view the video content captured and no one else.
Transcripts
I just want to take a moment here and discuss the value transcripts can have for your website and podcast’s SEO (if done correctly).
Say you have a podcast. Amazing. Podcasting is a GREAT way to build your SEO, but only if you do it correctly. If you want to benefit from all the great SEO juice that transcripts can give you, then you need to route your podcast through your website.
Castos does this really well with their WordPress plugin called Seriously Simple Podcasting. Once you choose the option to route your podcast through your website, you can then create podcast episodes as if they were blog posts.
Now, the important part to make sure you do is to add-in the transcripts to this podcast blog article! Otherwise, you’re missing out on all that keyword action. I usually add it into a dropdown accordion so it doesn’t take up a ton of space.
What happens now is that Google can crawl your website, find your podcast, find all those keywords from your transcript, and then send you all that great SEO juice. Not to mention you will build a lot of links back to your website this way as well, also great for SEO.
If you’re hosting your podcast on some other platform and NOT using transcripts, you’re losing out on all those opportunities to rake your website higher in Google and drive more traffic your way.
Now do you better understand why transcripts are so important?
Not to mention it’s like writing a whole blog article but all you’re doing is talking and it’s way more fun than sitting and writing for days to get the same results.
Searchie Cons
- It’s still a relatively young platform
This isn’t to say it’s a bad thing that they’re constantly growing and in a beta mode, but it just means there are kinks to be worked out. The Searchie team is usually pretty quick to fix any issues but just know going in that there will be bumps.
- You’ll need to use Zapier for specific integrations
Because it’s still a new platform you’ll probably need to use Zapier for a few things like connecting your email list (like ConvertKit) and a few other things.
- No affiliate payouts for your members (yet)
If you want to have your members go out and spread the word, amazing! If you want them to get a kickback for sharing their own affiliate link and helping to build your membership, not so amazing. The feature is currently in review for the platform but no word yet on when it might come into play.
If this feature is something really important to you, I’d suggest checking out ThriveCart as it has a built-in affiliate program using PayPal and can be completely automated or you can check out where I reviewed 7 membership site platforms to find out what other options might offer it.
Searchie Pricing
1. CREATOR PLAN
$0/month
This is a great place to start if you don’t have loads of content you’re going to be uploading right away. This plan comes with 5 hours of uploads and you can do addons with your plan. I have a client who uses this plan and bought a $10/month addon for an extra 50 hours of recorded content and it’s the cheapest and best option for them for hosting video content behind a pay wall.
This is also a great option to try out the platform and see if you like it before you commit.
2. START PLAN
$49/month or $41/month if you pay yearly
This is where most people will probably land when they start with Searchie. I say that because it comes with 50 hours of upload time, 1 hub, you get to remove the branding for a seamless crossover with your own website, and analytics which is important to know what your students are consuming and not consuming, and you get to download those vital transcripts which you can use anywhere else you might post your audio or video content.
If you have a lot of content up front that you know you need to upload, like a course, then you can start off with this plan and after you’ve done a month or so of uploading everything then you can always downgrade to the creator plan with an addon for $10 if you won’t be uploading as much per month.
3. GROW PLAN
$119/month or $99/month if you pay yearly
This is great for companies, organizations, or someone who plans to build and host a lot of membership programs on their account.
You get 3 hubs, 250+ hours of upload time, audience segmentation, community features, gamification, as well as a bunch of other features.
This is the plan you need to pick if you want to be able to embed the videos onto another platform.
4. SCALE PLAN
$219/month or $183/month if you pay yearly
This is the everything plan basically. You get to build up to 10 hubs and over 500 hours of uploads. This is for more major corporate projects or someone who is a project manager for other peoples membership hubs.
Final Verdict
Searchie may be the new kid on the block, but out of all the platforms out there to create and host online courses and memberships I think it’s doing a great job proving itself. From the price point to the search capabilities and user friendly interface and building system, Searchie gets top points from me.
I hope this Searchie review has been helpful to you. If you’re torn between a few different options, take advantage of the 7-day trial and see if you enjoy it or not. You don’t need a credit card to sign up and you’ll get access to all the fun stuff right from the start.
You can also check out my resources page for more business tools to help you build a successful online business.
FAQs
Can I use a custom domain with Searchie?
Yes! Searchie makes it easy for you to use a custom domain with your membership site and even has a tutorial on how to do it.
Can I cancel my Searchie subscription anytime?
Yes! Searchie doesn’t hold you to any contract so it’s easy to cancel at any time. In your account settings simply navigate to the subscription menu item and then at the bottom you will be the cancel subscription option.
Is it easy to upgrade or downgrade my Searchie subscription?
Yes! Inside your account settings, you can click the subscription menu item and then either upgrade or downgrade your plan with the click of a button.
Do I own my content on Searchie.io?
Yes! You 100% own your content on Searchie.io which is why it’s the perfect platform for hosting a membership site.
Can Searchie host my main website?
As great as Searchie.io is, I would suggest having a main website on another platform that is designed for hosting the main website. Searchie can either have a hub as private or public, not both so it would make things difficult.
What is a Searchie.io Hub?
A Searchie hub is where you host all of your content. You can design them like a website for your clients to navigate through and are perfect for your digital products like membership sites and courses.
What is the Searchie Chrome extension?
The Searchie Chrome extension allows you to record a screen much like how Loom works and it comes free with your subscription.
Searchie Pricing
CREATOR PLAN: $0/month
START PLAN: $49/month or $41/month if you pay yearly
GROW PLAN: $119/month or $99/month if you pay yearly
SCALE PLAN: $219/month or $183/month if you pay yearly
Can I host a Quiz on Searchie?
I’d suggest if you’re looking for an easy to use solution, create a quiz to check out TryInteract as they’re specific to quiz making.
