Searchie Review: Why Searchie is the Best Way to Sell Digital Content in 2023
Considering Searchie?
I was in your shoes a few years ago. I was happy enough using Kajabi and Squarespace to host and sell digital content for my business and my clients’ businesses. As a member of Stu McLaren’s online community, I was there for the launch of Searchie Hubs and I was intrigued. But I wondered about whether it had all of the capabilities that I was looking for. Like you, I did research and experimented.
I’m going to warn you: this is not a BS review. Yes, I am a huge Searchie fan—so much so that a few years ago I pivoted my business to solely providing Searchie education, tools, and development services. And yes, if you sign up for Searchie via my affiliate link I receive a commission. But I don’t want you to sign up for Searchie unless and until you understand what it is and whether it’s right for your business. I want you to become one of the legions of satisfied Searchie users!
Here’s the TL;DR
I highly recommend Searchie for the following types of entrepreneurs:
Those who create a lot of video content
Those who offer (or want to offer) online courses
Those who offer (or want to offer) a membership site
Podcasters
Coaches
Bloggers
YouTubers
Speakers
Authors
Influencers
Fitness and wellness leaders
Marketing gurus
Consultants
Anyone making money selling their expertise
Those who want to sell digital products
The Advantages of Using Searchie:
Easy to use, drag and drop capability
Automatic transcription and captions
Makes your content more accessible (video, audio, text)
Allows you to drip content to course takers or members
Can be used as a sales page, landing page, or website
Automations save you time
Audience segments and tagging allow you to provide a bespoke experience
Search capabilities save both you and your clients time
Searchie Chrome Extension makes it easy to create videos right from your desk
Useful analytics
Easy to create a branded unique user experience
Integrates with tons of platforms, including Stripe, Zoom, Facebook, Canva, and many more
Outstanding customer support, resources, and community
AI (Artificial Intelligence) to help create titles, short summaries, and chaptered long form summaries
Gamification and achievements to keep your clients engaged
Onboarding and audience directory to help create community
First Off, What is Searchie?
Searchie is an innovative video and audio platform that leverages AI (Artificial Intelligence) to help individuals and businesses present, sell, optimize, and manage that content. With the ability to search, transcribe, organize, and analyze vast quantities of content, Searchie has become the go-to solution for entrepreneurs and organizations looking to save time, enhance productivity, and improve their content management capabilities.
Searchie is perfect for creating online courses, memberships, online summits, and coaching programs. It can be used as a website, landing or sales page, as part of a sales funnel, or to sell digital products. All of your content is transcribed and can be sliced and diced to make it accessible and convenient for your clients: Any video can be consumed in different ways: watched with sound and/or subtitles, turned into an audio file for podcast-style listening, or downloaded as a transcript for bathtub reading.
Just like any other platform, Searchie allows you to take payment, offer subscriptions, drip content, and upsell—all while providing a superior customer experience and saving you time.
How is Searchie Better than the Other Guys?
There are a number of established platforms out there for hosting courses and memberships. Why is Searchie any better than those other ones? Let me count the ways:
So, So Easy to Use!
Searchie is hands-down the easiest, most user-friendly interface for course and membership platforms. You don’t need coding skills. You don’t need design skills. Even clients who hire me to create their Hub for them come away from the experience completely empowered and confident that they can run the show from that point on. Searchie was created with solopreneurs like you and me who don’t have an IT staff to handle this stuff.
Create Unmetered Video with Searchie’s Chrome Extension
Searchie’s Chrome extension makes it easy to record video straight from your desk. I’ve created entire online courses that were filmed this way—talk about a quick and dirty way to put ideas into action! I also use it to communicate with my team. Videos created with the Chrome extension can show your computer screen, as you go through a slide deck or show up as a talking head. It can’t be any easier! I’m a big believer in lowering the bar so that people can create the offerings their clients want, and the Searchie Chrome extension makes that happen.
Enhanced Search Capabilities
One of the most significant benefits of using Searchie is its advanced search capabilities. The platform's AI-powered search engine can identify and extract relevant content from audio and video files, making it easier to find and manage specific information. With Searchie, users can quickly search through transcripts, metadata, and other search fields to find the information they need.
Imagine that your coaching client recalls a golden nugget of insight that you provided during one of her live coaching sessions with you. She knows that you said something about using a mind trick on oneself, but she wants to listen to it again and write it on a Post-it note for future reference. With Searchie, all she has to do is go to your coaching Hub (a Searchie Hub is like a website) and enter the word “trick” into the Searchie Search Bar. Boom! Searchie will search all your video content that is available to this client and take her to all mentions of the word “trick.” You’ve saved her time—and helped her reinforce your coaching!
Transcription Saves Time and Increases Accessibility
Searchie automatically transcribes audio and video files accurately and quickly, so users can avoid the tedious and time-consuming task of manually transcribing content. The platform's AI algorithms can transcribe content accurately, and the transcriptions are available within minutes, saving users time and effort. And if English isn’t your native language, no worries! Searchie offers transcription for more than 25 languages.
Not only does Searchie transcription create closed captions for your videos, but these transcripts can also be made into downloadable pdfs and are automatically available with your video or audio, should you choose—perfect for those clients who really like words on paper. Those folks are out there; let’s make them happy! Another brilliant idea is to take the transcripts of your videos and create a digital product that you can sell or use as a lead magnet—or combine a whole series of them into the first draft of a book. Who knew that writing a book could be so easy?
Improved Content Organization
If you’re in the information business, you know how easy it is to get swamped and overwhelmed by the vast amount of content you create. We’ve all been there! Video lessons, handouts, recordings of live sessions, reference videos—it gets to be a lot, fast!
Searchie helps you become a content organization master. The platform’s AI can automatically categorize content into specific topics or themes, making it easier to manage and search for specific content. This feature is particularly useful for businesses that generate vast amounts of content regularly. And you can keep each piece of content organized by using Searchie’s tagging feature and playlist features. Looking for a specific video in your Searchie library? That Searchie search capability will take you right to it! No more time wasted sifting through video files.
Better Content Analysis
Searchie can analyze your content’s activity, providing you valuable insights into the content's performance and audience engagement. Searchie's AI algorithms can analyze content metrics such as searches, views, watch time, and engagement, providing valuable data that can inform content creation strategies. You can learn a lot about what content your clients are hungrily consuming and what content is not as attractive to them. This can help you create more of what they’re interested in!
Improved Accessibility
Accessibility is more important than ever before. People come to your business with their own unique learning styles and abilities—you want to be sure that you make it easy for them to make the most of your offerings! Searchie makes your content accessible. The platform's closed captioning and subtitling features can add captions and subtitles to video content, making it more accessible to individuals with hearing impairments. Transcripts can also be downloaded for those who prefer to learn by reading offline or even on hard copy. Some people learn better with audio input, or they prefer to learn while on the go. Searchie lets you offer your clients audio content in addition to video content. There’s no wrong way to learn, and offering accessible choices is the way to create happy clients.
Customizable Branding
Searchie offers customizable branding options, making it easy for you to brand your Searchie Hub with your logo, colors, and other design elements. This can help you establish brand identity and improve brand recognition. For example, your brand colors, logo, and images can be consistent with any other online presence you have. This improves trust in you and creates the branded experience you offer.
Searchie integrates with Canva, allowing you to easily create branded, professional-looking graphics. For example, you can create thumbnail images for your Searchie Hub (to denote areas of the Hub such as “community”) or for playlists or modules. Simply select a template from Canva, add your brand colors and images, and you’ve got a designy thumbnail—without the cost of a graphic designer! Both Canva and Searchie allow you to put your best foot forward and look professional—without having to be a design or tech wizard.
Integration with Other Platforms
Searchie integrates with many other platforms, including popular video hosting and content management systems such as Zoom, YouTube, Vimeo, and Dropbox. This feature makes it easy for users to manage their content across multiple platforms, streamlining their content management processes. You can save a lot of time by automating processes: for example, you can make it so that as soon as you finish a live session on Facebook, the video is loaded into Searchie, transcribed, and available to your clients in your Hub.
Searchie integrates with Stripe, making payment processing easy and reliable. For platforms and programs that don’t directly integrate with Searchie, Zapier facilitates the integration. Using Zapier, there are literally thousands of integrations with Searchie available to you. If you’re using it, there’s a way to integrate it!
Personalization
Searchie lets you easily provide a bespoke experience to your clients. Using playlists and tagging, you can customize exactly what your clients will see in your Hub. For example, you could create an intake assessment that will tease out what your client currently knows and what they want to learn. The results of this assessment can automatically tag the user’s account and then present the client with a personalized learning path. Pretty cool, huh? No more having to sift through hours of video that’s not relevant to them—they can get to what they consider “the good stuff!”
Coaches can create a personalized coaching Hub experience for their clients using this tagging. When your client goes to the coaching Hub, they can be greeted by name and see any videos that you want them to see, from their one-on-one sessions with you to content that matches their needs.
Or let’s say you have a client who is in your membership but has purchased a higher tier of membership that involves group calls and an online course in addition to the regular membership benefits. This client will be greeted by a Hub that has all of her resources, while someone at the regular membership level will have a Hub that doesn’t have those specific features.
AI Can Help You Create Content from YOUR Content
You’ve created a video and loaded it into Searchie. But the work isn’t done yet, is it? Maybe you would like to post about that content on a blog, on social media or in your community forum. Maybe you’d like to create a handout or digital product based on that video. But ugh, you don’t have an assistant and that’s a lot of work!
Well, Searchie’s AI feature can be your assistant! It can take the content of any of your videos and create all sorts of suggestions: titles, summaries of varied length, even chapters! If the suggestions don’t fit, you simply ask for more! I love this feature and it’s been saving me loads of time.
Let’s say you’re a podcaster. Searchie’s AI feature can help provide a transcript of your episode, a short summary of it for social media posts, and a chaptered longer summary that you can use for a blog post. Way to maximize your content while minimizing extra effort!
Seriously Outstanding Customer Support
Have you ever felt that a platform has left you adrift, lost in tech confusion and unable to get help? I’ve been there, and I know it’s a lousy feeling. You won’t feel that way with Searchie! Not only do they provide excellent free educational resources such as Searchie Academy and regular town hall meetings, but when you need help, you get help! I’ve never known such a supportive and responsive company, and this makes it a real pleasure to use Searchie. When you join Searchie you join a helpful and dynamic community, and this all springs from the company’s sense of mission. The Searchie team regularly adds features and improvements based on feedback from us, the users. I wish every company did that so beautifully!
Gamification and Achievements Keep Your Learners Engaged
Searchie has implemented gamification options and achievement options for those learners who have a competitive streak—or who simply love to earn a gold star! Let’s face it, we all like to be recognized and rewarded! Searchie has two kinds of achievements. The first kind is a milestone achievement, which means that when the user finishes viewing a certain playlist or piece of content, an achievement is triggered. The second kind of achievement is called a manual achievement. These are triggered when your user takes certain actions that you want them to take, such as introducing themselves in the community forum or setting up their directory profile. You can also use achievements to celebrate your users for the time since they joined (“Congratulations on your first six months of membership!”), the number of searches performed, and unique logins. You can give the user a virtual high five to celebrate this achievement: a notification of their achievement will pop up in Searchie to notify them. They’ll also receive an email to let them know they have a new achievement in their user profile.
These small achievements keep online learners engaged and motivated. And that’s important, because increasing your retention by just 5% can lead to an increase in profit of 25% or more!
Who is Searchie perfect for?
To put it broadly, I’d say that Searchie is a great solution for anyone with a knowledge-based online business-or anyone who is thinking of starting one! These businesses can be solopreneurs or bigger organizations that are sharing and selling their expertise via online courses, membership sites, podcasts, video platforms such as YouTube. My clients exemplify the huge variety of niches that can be served with Searchie offerings, from wellness gurus to a cooking teacher to an animal Reiki pro (seriously!) to a sleep coach for exhausted parents—and there are scores more, all serving their niche well with Searchie and loving it. If your business involves sharing your knowledge, Searchie is a great solution.
Searchie is perfect for:
Coaches
Experts
Consultants
Designers
Educators
Writers
Speakers
Podcasters
YouTubers
Anyone who provides recorded or live training or content
The kinds of businesses that probably won’t find Searchie useful are ones that don’t rely on video and audio content, such as brick and mortar retail and restaurants. If you’re selling a product but not educating your clients, then Searchie is not the right answer. But if your expertise IS the product, Searchie will delight you!
Isn’t Searchie Brand New—Maybe Too New?
Searchie was developed in 2019 and has been growing and evolving steadily. It’s no longer a new or beta product. When I went with Searchie a few years back I had the sense that I was going all in on a relatively new product and I was betting that it would take off. Over the past few years, I have seen the product constantly improving and becoming more established. I think it’s safe to say that Searchie is here to stay!
In fact, all of the developments at Searchie have been in response to requests from the users of the product. We ask for features that we need, and the amazing development team at Searchie delivers! I doubt there are too many other platforms that are as responsive.
How Does Searchie Compare in Cost to Other Platforms?
Searchie is comparable or cheaper than platforms like Kajabi. It’s true that Searchie does not have a free version (although there is a free trial period), but it offers three different subscription levels:
Searchie Basic Gets You Started
Searchie Basic plan costs $29 per month (all prices noted are current at the time of this publication, winter 2023). For this price, you can upload 5 hours of video per month, create one Hub, have searchable transcription on your videos, one widget (a Searchie search bar you can put onto other platforms, such as your Wordpress or Squarespace website), and an embeddable media player and playlists.
This is all you need to create a terrific online course and/or membership that can really impact your bottom line. In fact, most entrepreneurs I know get hooked on Searchie once they see how easy it is to take their ideas from concept to offering: their ideas start popping and they decide to create more Searchie offerings—so they need to change to the next pricing level: Searchie Pro.
Searchie Pro Allows You to Create Multiple Offerings
Searchie Pro currently costs $99 per month, but you can save $192 per year by paying annually. This brings the monthly cost to $83. For this price, you can create three Hubs and upload up to 15 hours of video monthly. At this level, you get some tools that really help to next-level your business: analytics, and downloadable transcripts.
Searchie Business Lets You Scale
Many entrepreneurs quickly outgrow three Hubs. They want to scale their online business with additional courses, programs, and memberships. Searchie Business is there for them! This plan gives you unlimited Hubs, unlimited widgets, and unmetered uploads. You can build a dynasty of online offerings!
Searchie Business also provides you with premium support from the amazing Searchie team. If you pay annually, the cost is $166 per month (a $396 savings over paying monthly). If you want to create a handful of offerings, this is the plan for you!
I love having the ability to create a new Hub anytime I feel like it, whether it’s to test out a new offering or for a personal project. I love the freedom of Searchie Business.
Don’t Just Take My Word for It
I know what you’re thinking: This reviewer is giddy in love with Searchie, but what about people like me, who aren’t yet sold and aren’t the most tech savvy? Fair point. But you don’t just have to take my word for it. Check out the interviews I’ve done with my clients on my YouTube channel. See what they’ve created using Searchie and hear about their experiences. You don’t have to simply take my word for it!
Any Downsides to Searchie?
Now of course, no platform is perfect for everyone. What are the areas where Searchie could be better or could fit the needs of even more entrepreneurs?
Potential Cons of Searchie:
Searchie is not an email marketing platform, although you can integrate it with your email marketing provider
Searchie doesn’t have a built-in community forum, although you can easily link it to your private Facebook group, Circle, MightyNetworks, or other community forum
Some integrations require Zapier webhooks, which can result in an additional cost for a Zapier monthly plan
Searchie Hubs don’t provide SSL certificates (although you can work around this by using Cloudflare for your DNS)
Searchie doesn’t allow for multiple users (each account only has one ID and password). When I’m working in a team or with clients, we use LastPass to work around this in a secure way.
Maximize Your Efforts with Searchie
I hope that you’ve become convinced that Searchie is an innovative platform that will transform the way you manage your content. With its advanced search capabilities, time-saving transcription, improved content organization, better content analysis, improved accessibility, customizable branding, and integration with other platforms, Searchie is the perfect tool for anyone in the knowledge-based online business marketplace looking to enhance their content management processes.
Are you intrigued by Searchie’s capabilities but a bit daunted about going it alone? Make it easier on yourself by using my Guided Searchie Hub Templates, or stay in your zone of genius and farm out the Searchie Hub creation to me via my Build My Searchie Hub VIP Experience. Get that Hub up and get your offering out there!
Let’s Create Your Hub!
If you feel stuck or overwhelmed with Searchie, I create Hubs for my clients to get them moving…making money tomorrow!
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