BlogmyQuery – BMQ

Did you know, 25% of apps downloaded by mobile app users are used only once after their installation? 

With an estimated 53,000+ health apps floating around us, making users stay glued around to experience your app is a tedious task. Although the health and wellness mobile app category has the highest rates of download, a high percentage of them struggle to retain active users over time. 

So the question is, how would you make your healthcare app stand out and prevent app abandonment? 

Increased abandonment is often because the app does not lead users to value quickly enough after they open the app. Initial interest is what keeps them coming back for more, and it relies on onboarding, personalization and encouraging in-app messaging. Try out these mobile app retention strategies for healthcare if you’re struggling to increase retention. 

#1. Optimize onboarding experience  

One of the primary steps to accelerate your app’s user experience is – application onboarding. You have barely a few seconds to make a good impression of your app. So, make sure that your app’s onboarding process is spot-on. Do not bombard users with multiple in-app messages right after the login process. 

Here’s how you can enhance your app’s user onboarding experience: keep it short, show your app’s key features and how the onboarding screen deals with the progress bar. 

The key point here is to keep your users engaged, informed and excited to explore your app without frustrating them with unwanted popups and messages.

One of the best ways to bend the retention curve is to target the new initial days of usage and in particular the first visit – Andrew Chen. 

Here’s what you should avoid while optimizing your app onboarding process:

• Do not ask users to rate and review the app before they complete the onboarding process.
• Do not force users to sign in or subscribe to any feature before they check out the app and use it for a few days.

Let’s take the example of the meditation app Headspace and its user-friendly onboarding process. It offers a step-by-step guide to users to meditate along with leveraging custom options to change the session length.

Don’t want to meditate now? No worries! You can skip the guide and explore the app. How convenient.

#2. Use gamification to enhance engagement 

Gamification focuses on applying game mechanisms to non-game contexts to engage audiences and inject fun into otherwise mundane activities along with generating motivation and cognitive benefits. 

Gamification in healthcare has attracted a great deal of attention because of increased access to healthcare, lack of adherence to treatment and the rise of wearable devices. 

Involving gamification features in your mobile app makes using your healthcare mobile app fun, interactive and rewarding. Majorly, these incentives can be in the form of accumulating points or getting a free subscription; something that encourages users to take action.

Samsung Health offers a personalized workout opportunity to its users to help them reach their potential personal goals.

Here’s how gamification can be an essential feature of your healthcare app: 

• Set clear goals to keep the users moving forward. 
• Visualize progress to reinforce user motivation. 
• Reward positive behavior to keep users coming back.
• Trigger personalized notifications to keep users engaged or to remind them of the next actions to take. 

#3. Personalized the app for different niches 

If your app targets multiple user groups, the question here is, can targeting specific groups of users help increase your healthcare app’s user retention? 

Think about the different users your app targets and multiple use-cases that can be created for each of them.

For example, you can create a unique pregnancy app for expecting mothers that keeps a track of their baby’s progress, nutrients needed, pre-pregnancy workout, and more.

The mobile app retention strategy here is clear: creating a personalized app for different niche users and providing a personalized user experience.

#4. Make your navigation smooth

It’s critical to get the navigation right since your user retention will directly correlate with how users navigate through your healthcare app. 

Remember, users come to your app to accomplish certain tasks. If they fail to identify what they’re looking for, they’ll uninstall your app and switch to your competitor’s app. So, how can your healthcare mobile app retain users with great UX/UI?

Make sure to keep the action simple and obvious while the user journey progresses. The icons should be marked and visible by keeping the taps and interactions minimum to accomplish a task.

MyFitnessPal’s app reduces the number of steps needed for a user to finish their primary goal. The redesigned screen helps users track the calories left to be consumed to hit the goal along with detailed nutrient information on the go.

Common mistakes to avoid while designing your app’s navigation are:

1. Make sure that your app flow needs less interaction and is simple to understand.
2. Keep navigation icons and gestures familiar. Avoid using too many or very few menu options.
3. Do not hide important navigation links.
4. Ensure a simple, user-friendly and smooth journey for app users. 

#5. Ensure frustration-free gesture

Measuring gesture UX has become a crucial aspect of mobile apps since the time iPhone shifted from the home button and android devices adapted full-screen gestures. Making your gesture smooth and user-friendly is a key aspect of the app’s overall user experience.

But working on usability gestures, one of the most underrated aspects is – identifying your target audience. We often forget to identify for whom we are designing the app. 

Does your target audience include people moving from one place to another (such as a food ordering app) or senior citizens who consult doctors on virtual calls (mHealth or telemedicine apps)? 

Make sure that your app’s UI and gestures are optimized to their levels.

A perfect example of touch heatmaps.

For a better user experience, do not forget to place your key elements within the thumb’s reach. To analyze gesture-based usability, touch heatmaps are the best tool to monitor physical gestures and not just the interaction ones.

#6. Use of in-app messages 

When used correctly, in-app messages relieve user frustrations and deliver personalized and contextual messaging where and when it matters the most. 

So what are in-app messages? They are a direct line of communication between you and your users. You can send them while the user engages with your web or mobile app. 

The different ways to use in-app messaging for your healthcare app development include: 

• Patient-physician 1:1 chat 
• Medical reports shared directly in the conversation 
• Patient centric-group conversations 
• Medication reminders 
• Chatbots 

Telemedicine platforms, mHealth apps, telehealth apps and healthcare software commonly use in-app messages to make user communication relevant and effective. 

#7. Retention email marketing 

Customer retention is complex, and no single strategy will solve user churn completely. That said, email is still the most effective channel to engage inactive users and bring them back to use your app. 

Now you may be thinking, why use emails to retarget app users? The reasons are: 

• Users prefer brands to show up in their inbox as it’s less obstructive compared to notifications. They are shared with active and inactive app users over email. 
• Email marketing has a jaw-dropping ROI of 122%, higher than any other channel (yes even search and social fall behind). 
• Using a CRM such as EngageBay, emails can be personalized for specific customer segments. Segmented email campaigns have a 100% higher click-through rate than generic campaigns! 

Some triggered email messages to boost retention for your healthcare mobile app include: 

• Welcome email 
• Abandoned cart email
• Upselling and cross-selling email 
• Special occasion email
• Discount and sales campaigns 
• Referral email 
• Re-engagement email 

Lastly, update your app at regular intervals

Update your mobile app with new features and personalized content to keep users hooked. 

To update your app, keep a track of users’ behavior, gather feedback and see what major updates would entice a user to stay glued to your app. Another way is to keep an eye on your competitor’s offering and offer the better, improved, or updated version of it.

P.S. What else can you do to retain your app users?

1. Consult your users and ask them what they like about your healthcare app and what else can be done to craft a better mobile experience.
2. Do not surprise them with the hidden charges. Have transparent pricing.
3. Keep your user’s data safe and secured.
4. Focus on connectivity by integrating wearable technology.

Healthcare mobile app retention strategies: A little planning goes a long way

Retention is not a quick fix, rather, a well-thought strategy that revolves around the entire user journey. 

With these mobile app retention strategies for healthcare, you can show customers you understand them and care about their experience with your app.

The post 7 Mobile App Retention Strategies for Healthcare You Should Try in 2022 appeared first on noupe.

The old saying is true: You never get a second chance to make a first impression.  

For businesses, a website and its design are as important as their front door, if not more so. A web design that involves the best website trends of 2022, including clean minimalism, reflects the company and its capabilities.  

A website that’s hard to use or looks dated will send customers away, but web design with user experience in mind and the latest minimalism ideas incorporated will attract attention for all the right reasons.  

What Is Minimalism?  

Minimalism is a term that’s been bandied about in recent years, but what does it really mean? 

Minimalism means less is more in interior design, art, and lifestyle. 

Clean lines shine in minimalist art, and minimalism in interior design features an absence of clutter. Minimalism in lifestyle means living with fewer items of excellent quality. 

Minimalism in web design is clean and uncluttered, easy to read, and well-organized. Minimalism reflects the trends of 2022 and brings visitors to websites a more positive user experience.  

The Minimalism movement started in the post-World War II period of the 1950s. Western art and design in the 1950s through the 1960s and into the 1970s featured clean lines and a modern look that defined the era. 

Today, minimalism is seeing a revival in everything from fashion to web design. Minimalism reflects a simple lifestyle that includes the best quality necessities and nothing that’s not needed.

 Minimalism in design offers a fresh and effective look for 2022 and beyond. 

What Is Minimalist Website Design?  

Minimalist web design incorporates those minimalism principles. In many ways, minimalist web design is classic, and true classics never go out of style.  

Current trends emphasize clean, uncluttered, and uncomplicated layouts. Minimalist web design offers an easy and convenient user experience and loads faster, too.  

The simplicity of minimalist design may lead you to believe that thought isn’t required, but nothing could be further from the truth. 

A minimalist web design must be well-organized and well-thought-out by the design team. The design process must include collaboration among members of the design team. 

The design elements and design choices must be considered for compatibility so they can be powerful tools for users. 

Minimalist graphic designs make the user experience positive and productive, with faster loading times. This minimalist design trend will continue to be popular because of its performance and timeless design. 

10 Minimalist Web Design Tips for 2022  

Incorporating minimalism in web design is easier if design teams first consider some of the principle design trends in 2022 and beyond.  

Less Is More  

Uncluttered, clean, and simple design is a hallmark of all minimalist designs, including graphic designs for websites and webpages. Too many icons and buttons for users to click on can be overwhelming and confusing for users. This can make web designs with an unattractive busy look. 

With minimalism, less is more. The users’ eyes get a break when viewing a minimalist website’s white space and are directed to the central designs of the website. Minimalism offers everything needed and nothing that’s not. 

Apply Minimalism to Your Images Too  

Simplistic, elegant, minimalist design should continue to the images included in your web design. 

Graphic designs should be clean and easy to interpret, with legible writing and without complicated serifs. Photography should be well-thought-out, showing subjects in a powerful but simple way that’s easy for website users to understand.  

Always Keep Usability in Mind  

The ultimate goal of all web design should be usability and user experience. The best web designs are the ones that are not only attractive but also easy to use. Follow these graphic design tips to use the best of 2022’s minimalist trends in web design. 

Focus on the Content  

Minimalism principles should extend to the content of the website. Less can be more when it comes to text for a minimalist website. Give users the information they need with the concise language they can easily understand. 

Fewer well-considered words will make your website elegant, effective, and minimalist. Users will have a clearer understanding of the information provided.  

Use Your White Space Wisely  

The white space of your website should frame and accent the included icons. It can be hard to find the information needed on a cluttered website. 

Not so in a minimalist website – this design style uses white space to make the graphic designs included stand out even more. This type of flat design can be timeless and effective as a powerful tool for communication.  

Don’t Be Afraid of a Dark Background  

Black background with white text and graphic designs can be an elegant example of minimalist web design. Some designers say that black and darker backgrounds give the eye a moment to rest. 

These dark backgrounds also let the minimalist graphic designs and images pop for website users. Inversely, white backgrounds can also be effective as a background with brights as well as muted color palettes. 

Be Purposeful in Your Design  

Minimalist design must be thoroughly considered and well organized, so purposefulness in web design is central to minimalism and user experience. 

All parts of minimalist web design must have a purpose and be functional for users and the overall website. A visual element should always have meaning and purpose within the entire design. 

Use Only Three Colors  

A new 2022 design trend is to use only three colors in designing a website. 

These colors don’t always have to be bright primary colors. A minimalist website can also have a complementary color scheme that includes muted color palettes. 

Bright or muted, these colors can become signature colors for the company or organization, even leading users to see a certain color and think of that brand and that website.  

Different Fonts Can Be Your Friend   

While minimalism design should be easy to read, the fonts used can go beyond Helvetica and Calibri. Consider a clean script that can add a creative accent to a minimalist web design. Don’t be afraid to mix fonts in minimalism. 

Remember that the fonts should be read easily and fit well into the overall minimalist design. Fonts can also show the personality of the company or organization. 

Keep Your Navigation Intuitive  

Your website users shouldn’t have to think too hard when finding their way around. In minimalist web design, website navigation should be intuitive for users. Icons should be in places that make sense for website visitors, contributing to a positive user experience. 

This responsive design combined with a clean web design will increase functionality and decrease eye strain. 

10 Minimalist Web Design Examples  

Incorporating minimalism in web design is easier when seeing examples of the best of 2022’s minimalist web design. These 10 websites show how less can be more when designing websites in 2022. 

Each offers an excellent user experience while showcasing the brand’s personality and the company’s products and services within the principles of minimalist web design.  

HalloBasis 

This German design firm lets its creativity shine through. The minimalist design allows the art created by Hallo Basis to take center stage. 

Its website serves as a gallery of the design company’s capabilities. HalloBasis uses fonts that are easy to read, bold, minimalist, and part of the website’s overall look. One visit to the HalloBasis website shows minimalist design trends and a gallery of Hallo Basis’ projects.  

Jazz FM Romania 

Click on Jazz FM Romania’s website, and you see a bold triangular “play” symbol, telling users in a universal language that their website offers music. 

The bright yellow background conveys excitement but is balanced by elegant black graphic designs, making these complementary colors. This makes it impossible not to click play to hear the jazz.  

Tinker 

Photography of the watches Tinker designs takes center stage in this company’s website. 

Its minimalist design blends into the photography, which at once shows the watches and conveys a mood. 

Tinker’s website is well-designed, so users can quickly go from the home page to shopping. Muted color palettes make viewing the website feel comfortable. 

Leen Heyne 

An elegant black background with animation showing the Leen Heyne logo being written in white at once shows the style and personality of this jeweler. The website user sees breathtaking photography of Leen Heyne’s jewelry designs from that start. 

Leen Heyne’s elegance is reflected in the design, thoughtful creation, and photography, which gives using this website a luxurious feeling. That gives shoppers a first-class experience buying Leen Heyne jewelry online. 

We Ain’t Plastic 

A user experience engineering firm must have a functional, well-designed website. We Ain’t Plastic uses high contrast, bold design, and concise writing to tell its story. 

Neutral but bold background colors and clean design are a few of the modern web design trends this well-designed website reflects. The We Ain’t Plastic website showcases their UX expertise and creativity.

Nua Bikes 

Nua Bikes manages to put a lot of information and photography on their minimalist website. 

A wide variety of photos gives users a slideshow of Nua Bikes in use, increasing the customer conversion rate for the company. Users can see these bikes in use through eye-catching photography and comfortable color palettes. 

Sendamessage.to 

A black background makes the bold and innovative design of Sendamessage.to’s minimalist website. 

A business that lets its customers send personalized hand gestures as messages, this website features an engaging photo of a fist turning into a thumbs up. The mission and personality of the service shine through the design of this website.  

Maaemo 

This three-star, Michelin-rated restaurant in Norway uses black and white contrast to add an air of elegance and mystery to its website. 

Making reservations on the restaurant website is easy, showing the minimalist design and UX organization. Photos of food and wine aren’t shown, which piques interest since the restaurant is so well known.  

Ava 

This website highlights the star of the movie “Ex Machina,” an AI robot named Ava. 

The black and white typography and interactivity, including portraits of users drawn by Ava, add to compelling and memorable visual effects and clean web design. Fans of the movie can even share these portraits on social media to promote the film. 

Symbolset  

A bright color block and clean design make the icon font vendor Symbolset’s website a great example of the minimalist design trend. 

The flat background and color choices make their subject matter more interesting for users.  

Final Thoughts 

Design trends are constantly evolving and changing. Modern minimalist web designs, including graphic designs, complementary colors, and intuitive navigation, are timeless since they load quickly, have high conversion rates that turn visitors into customers, and provide excellent user experiences. 

Not only are minimalist designs on-trend – showing up everywhere from fashion capsules to farmhouse home furnishings – for websites, but they also make sense. Minimalist web designs don’t create eye strain or confusion for users. They’re functional, and they load quickly. This keeps users happy and not visiting competing websites. 

As you can see, creating a minimalist web design takes more thought than one that is more cluttered. 

The organization is essential in minimalism, as is color choice, writing, photography, and user experience design. Collaboration among design team members is required to make all the parts of the website design function well together. 

Modern web design trends, including clean design and minimalism, will create a positive user experience, the best first impression that every company or organization wants to make with their website. 

The best design trends will let the website show an organization’s personality and its products and services in the best light. 

How using a website feels is a reflection of a business. A website that loads quickly and is easy to use and attractive is the best first impression online a company could have. Modern minimalist design trends can create positive online user experiences essential to successful web design for 2022 and beyond. 

The post 10 Minimalism Web Design Tips for 2022 appeared first on noupe.

When it comes to making money online, the key is to make money. Seems silly, right? What else would it be about? You may be surprised.

Many people who are trying to get those sweet magic internet monies are going about it completely the wrong way. Your first step is to find a gap in the market. Who isn’t being served? How can you serve them?

If you can’t answer these questions then it might be best to move on to another market. Or maybe it’s a diamond in the rough. How can you tell?

This is the kind of topic that makes marketers heads’ spin. If you want to know how to identify market segments that still have huge potential, you’re in luck. We’re going to try and break it down. Read on.

Find a Niche Using Google Trends

When you’re racking your brain and trying to come up with a plan for making money online, look no further than Google Trends to start your research. It’s a really easy tool to use.

Go to the website and plug in your topics. You’ll be given a graph that you can play with to fit into your desired timeline and you can even hone your search down by country. Keep in mind Google isn’t the number one search engine in every country and some countries have content restrictions.

For anyone who wants to make money online through a niche or authority website, you probably want to focus on certain countries. This includes the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

This group of countries has a lot of wealth and niches that do well in one can probably do well in the others. Whereas a customer in the UK probably does not have the same wants and needs as someone in a conservative Middle East nation.

For this example, let’s use cryptocurrency. It’s a niche that is growing every day. But is it still worth it to try and get into the hustle?

In this example, we compared the search term “Bitcoin” against “Online Banking”. There is a lot more interest in cryptocurrency right now than there is in online banking.

This is probably a good thing. Websites like NerdWallet have that niche locked down pretty hard. It’s going to be difficult to rank well against the likes of them and other big names.

But you can go into this even deeper. Let’s do another quick comparison.

This is a comparison of the Ethereum blockchain against a small blockchain called Fantom Opera. Fantom is starting to make waves in the defi space. But according to Google Trends, people are still searching for Ethereum more often.

Does this mean Fantom isn’t worth building content around? Is it too new? Let’s compare Fantom to another rising star, the Avalanche blockchain.

This changes the entire landscape, doesn’t it? You can see that while neither Avalanche nor Fantom is competing well with Ethereum, interest in both blockchains is steadily rising.

After doing some research like this, you’re probably going to go out and hunt down some cryptocurrency affiliate programs and then build a website around them. You could join discords for different protocols and create YouTube videos to promote your website. 

Twitter and other social platforms are other great places to promote your work.

Putting all of these tactics together can make your website a rising star in the crypto world, which is a space that struggles when it comes to well-written content. However, it’s also important to keep search engines in mind. It’ll make your life a lot easier in the long run.

Focus on Long-Tail Keywords

Keywords are a big part of search engine optimization. Using the examples from above, let’s assume you decide to start targeting various crypto keywords with your content.

Right off the bat, you need to take keywords like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain off of your list. These keywords are simply too short and overly saturated. It doesn’t matter how good your content is, you will never rank.

Instead, go after long-tail keywords. Using the long-tail phrase “best protocols on fantom” the first piece of content that pops up is a Medium article. When was the last time you saw a Medium article rank in the number one spot?

Go to the article as well as a few others. Write something that is way better. Promote this content on your social sites and then reach out to the creators of these protocols. They will promote your piece, provided it’s good, on their own channels and in their discords.

This will bring tons of readers to your website and help you to build a loyal audience. When new protocols come out, they may even reach out to you and offer payment for writing a piece on their project. 

Google will see traffic flocking to your content and you’ll rise through the rankings quickly just by targeting the right long-tail keywords.

It’s important to remember there is always more than one way to do something.

Secondary Keywords

Secondary keywords can be just as vital as your main keyword. But what are they and how do you find them?

Your main keywords should be included in your title, at least one header, and sprinkled throughout your content. Secondary keywords should be in headers and then lightly peppered into your blog posts. That’s some quality seasoning.

A good way to search for great secondary keywords is to go back to your original search and look for the People also ask box. It looks like this:

You can answer these questions as part of a FAQ section or just add the headers naturally provided they fit into the blog post.

Competition is a Good Thing

Pro-tip: Don’t be scared of a little competition.

Other website owners and marketers in your space are a sign that the niche has money in it. You should be more concerned if you’re the only creator or business owner in this space.

However, you may have to get creative. If someone or another business starts to outrank your website, do some digging. There are a variety of marketing tools out there that can help you track backlinks to your competitor’s website.

Spend a little time monitoring their content. What are they doing well? How can you make it better? Competition breeds innovation.

If you thought you could build a website and never update or try to make it better then you got into the wrong business.

As always, it’s also  a strong belief of mine that a solid link building campaign can always help give you an edge in particularly tough but lucrative markets.

It doesn’t take much to pull ahead of the competition in that regard. The little things like creating a professional email signature, using branded email addresses, creating truly personalized outreach and focusing on quality over quantity can help a lot.   

Keep Your Mind on Your Money and Your Money on Your Mind

via GIPHY

Snoop Doggy Dogg was not the first person to put these words together. He just made them famous with his hit song Gin and Juice.

Building websites, affiliate marketing, ad revenue. These are not hobbies. They are integral parts of building an online business.

Not only is it a business, but it has the same goal as every other company in the world, which is to make a profit. If you’ve done a ton of research and you’ve found a niche no one is living in, there’s likely a reason.

Bad niches have bad traffic and bad affiliate programs. These aren’t worth your time. It can cost thousands of dollars to build a great niche or authority site, which is why it’s so important for you to identify a dead market before you dive in.

How do you identify dead markets using the tips we’ve already mentioned?

• Keywords – If the cost and the traffic for your main keywords are low then the market for products and services in this niche could not be moving. This could also be a sign there is no healthy competition, which means there is no money here.
• Trend lines – If you spend an hour or two on Google Trends and every topic is a flat line, the desire just isn’t there.
• Bad Programs – There is also a wild card category. If brands for a particular niche are constantly going under or if they’re a hassle to deal with, no one is going to waste their time. If you come across a niche that seems too good to be true, do some research on the best affiliate programs for it. If Amazon is all there is, it likely isn’t worth your time.

Conclusion – How to Identify Market Segments that Still Have Huge Potential

Finding the right market segments for your writing and website design style can be difficult for sure. Remember, you only have to be right one time. Then it becomes a matter of rinse and repeat.

If you use the tips above, it will make the process much easier. However, there is much more to making money online than just these ideas. You’ll need to become a subject matter expert, a social media extraordinaire, and your own SEO.
It’s doable. Thousands of people are doing it every day and so can you. Thanks for hanging out. If you enjoyed this post, you’ll like this one on how to grow your small business with affiliate marketing.

The post How to Identify Market Segments that Still Have Huge Potential appeared first on noupe.

Telehealth and telemedicine solutions have been an indispensable part of the world’s fight against the COVID-19 virus. The ability of healthcare providers to consult with patients virtually eliminated many face-to-face visits and opportunities to spread the disease.

The population was able to maintain social distancing standards while still obtaining certain types of medical care that could be dispensed electronically.

Benefits of Telehealth Solutions

In addition to the advantages telehealth offered to combat the pandemic, it promises to provide society with many other benefits. Following are some of the reasons telehealth solutions are gaining popularity among patients and providers.

• Reducing travel and waiting time – Telehealth can eliminate the cost and inconvenience associated with traveling and waiting for non-emergency healthcare visits.
• Providing enhanced care to remote communities – Patients living in rural communities requiring extensive travel for checkups and appointments are better served with telemedicine solutions. Especially in the case of follow-up visits, telehealth apps contribute to improved patient care and outcomes.
• Managing chronic conditions – Individuals with chronic conditions requiring extensive monitoring benefit from the care available with telehealth tools. Patients can easily contact providers to discuss ongoing treatment and receive updated care instructions related to their current status.
• Reducing overhead for providers – The cost of offering virtual appointments is much less than in-office visits, providing substantial savings for healthcare facilities. In addition, telehealth solutions reduce the number of no-show patients, minimizing the associated financial losses to the provider. 
• Improving patient satisfaction – Reliable and accessible telehealth solutions improve patient satisfaction and confidence in their providers. 

Telehealth will continue to grow in popularity for these and other related reasons as long as patient data can be kept secure.

Telehealth Security and Privacy Risks 

The substantial benefits of telehealth come with increased risks to the security and privacy of sensitive patient data. The type of information contained in medical records and correspondence with providers presents an attractive target for hackers and cybercriminals. Citizens are understandably skeptical about how secure their sensitive information is when stored and processed electronically.

Data breaches and ransomware attacks occur virtually every day. By definition, all data breaches affect some kind of sensitive data. The special nature and sensitivity of medical information set it apart, making its security more important.

Concerns about sensitive medical information were first addressed in the U.S. by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). HIPAA defines protected health information (PHI) and electronically protected health information (ePHI) as data that can be used to identify medical records with a specific patient. They list 18 identifiers that include things like the patient’s name, Social Security, email address, and phone number. 

These data elements are required to be protected by healthcare providers and the business associates who process patient information and records. Failure to maintain the privacy and security of ePHI subjects the offending organization to financial penalties and can destroy the confidence of its customers. 

Before the introduction of telehealth solutions, electronic patient data that fell under HIPAA guidelines was primarily protected by dedicated information technology (IT) professionals. As the role of telemedicine increases, so do the risks to ePHI. The convenience and personalized use of apps that process ePHI introduce a large and diverse attack platform. 

Techniques to Minimize the Security Risks in Telemedicine

The risks to telehealth solutions are real and need to be addressed effectively for society to enjoy all of its potential benefits. Patients who are concerned about the security and privacy of their medical information will not be motivated to adopt telemedicine apps. Gaining their confidence in the security of telehealth products is essential to promoting their widespread use. 

Therefore, maintaining the security and privacy of patient data is the most important characteristic of a viable telehealth solution. Let’s look at this issue from the perspectives of providers and patients.

Providers 

Healthcare providers should incorporate the following methods and practices when employing any telemedicine application with their patients.

• Use HIPAA-compliant solutions – Strive to use HIPAA-compliant solutions when offering telehealth services. Some guidelines regarding security were temporarily waived to address the COVID-19 emergency. These requirements will eventually be enforced again, and HIPAA-compliant solutions should be put in place. This includes hosting systems with HIPAA-compliant providers and using apps that meet HIPAA standards. 
• Data encryption – All ePHI should be encrypted when used in any telehealth application. This includes third-party and cloud solutions which should be obtained from reliable providers. 
• Multi-factor authentication – Use multi-factor authentication to improve the security of sensitive data. Apps requiring multi-factor authentication provide additional layers of security and help minimize data breaches and successful cyberattacks.
• Limit network access – Prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information by practicing the principle of least privilege. Techniques like network segmentation should be implemented by providers or their business associates to limit the potential misuse of ePHI. Cloud telehealth solutions should use dedicated private networks to protect data transmission.
• Manage mobile device access – Employees’ personal mobile devices should not have access to sensitive apps, networks, or patient data. Ensure that company-owned devices with the appropriate level of security are used to access and process ePHI. 
• Use a secure area for telehealth visits – Limit access to the area to healthcare professionals required for a patient’s care. Secure visual and audio access to the content of a telehealth session. Sign out of all apps when the session ends and limit information requests to those necessary to treat the patient. This should be automatically enforced. 
• Keep patients informed – Organizations should keep their patients informed regarding the privacy and security measures that have been implemented to protect their data.

Patients

Patients also have roles and responsibilities regarding the protection of their sensitive health information. 

• Stay informed – Request information from your provider regarding their privacy and security practices. Know when you should be expecting telehealth communication. Be cautious of unexpected or suspicious contact through voice or email that may indicate a scam. Contact your provider directly if you have concerns. 
• Keep your device secure – Maintain security on the device used for telehealth visits so it cannot be used by unauthorized individuals to compromise your information. 
• Ensure the session is secure – Ask your provider if the communication is protected and verify data transmission is encrypted.
• Choose a private location  – Control who has access to conversations or video conferences with your healthcare provider. Consider using a room with a door if necessary.
• Watch the backdrop – Remember that whatever is behind you will be visible during video communication. Remove anything that you may not want to share with your provider. 
• Keep your computer and devices updated – Manufacturers regularly provide updates and patches that improve security. You must apply these updates to protect your sensitive data.
• Avoid public WiFi – Try to conduct telehealth visits using a private network to improve your security. 

Conclusion

Despite the potential risks to privacy and security, telehealth solutions are here to stay. The benefits to healthcare patients and providers are too great to ignore. It’s up to application developers and the organizations that implement their telemedicine solutions to take the necessary steps to ensure the security and privacy of ePHI. 

Patients also need to understand their responsibility in protecting their sensitive information. With the proper safeguards, telehealth can provide a secure and flexible method of providing society with improved and flexible healthcare options. 

The post Important Tips for Keeping Telehealth Secure appeared first on noupe.

Ever heard the saying “photography is the story that fails to be put into words”? Well, there certainly are many stories out there– and a lot of them need a unique and creative eye to really bring them home. Think you’re up to the task?

Whether you’re an expert who’s well-versed in photo practices or someone who’s just simply curious and passionate about this aspect of visual storytelling, it is never too late to break into the stock photo game. Follow our guide on how to sell your photos online on photo stocks and start raking in some cash!

What is Stock Photography?

Let’s first begin with a definition. Stock photos are images that people can license for use in their projects, be it personal, in-company, or other. People like designers, educators, and social media professionals use stock photography on a daily basis, providing for a considerable demand in the field. And whether you’re a professional photographer, influencer, or just someone with a strong passion for snapping shots, selling photos online on photo stocks is something you should seriously consider.

It is also important to understand what kind of work would be needed from you since long gone are the days of generic images of people obviously posing. Stock images have evolved from staid and staged over the years, with beautiful authentic photos that have come to take their place; this is also a wonderful shift from an artistic standpoint. Emotive and diverse work is valued much more these days– casual and clean images of real people in real situations have come to define and dominate the world of modern stock photography. Time to bring that camera out.

Tips to Snap Stock Photos that’ll Actually Sell

Take Your Camera (or Phone Camera) Everywhere You Go

This one may seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people forget about this tip. A simple look at the stock photography market trends will show you that real magic is captured in real-time. True, it is important to plan out your photos, but when those amazing authentic moments pop out seemingly out of nowhere (and they will); it is absolutely essential that you have your camera on you, at all times. It is a great way to explore subjects or niche topics you may not have realized are accessible for you.

People Watch

Creating and beautifully delivering authenticity comes with an important first step–people watching, in the least creepy way possible. Begin by observing people in natural settings such as at a party or in a coffee shop or at the office. Plan out for that perfect moment by knowing how people realistically interact with each other and surrounding objects. For instance, someone sipping a drink is an easy thing to get wrong because a lot of photographers tend to instruct their subjects to pose in the process, while objectively this is far from what happens in real life.

But not everyone in your life wants to be a model, that’s okay. You can easily take candid photos or stage a similar scene with models. Unless the people’s faces are obscured or cut off, you are going to need a model release form to sell these photos. But the bottom line is; aim for realistic, even if you are featuring models. Allow for spontaneity to happen in your work through natural-looking gestures and interactions. Put yourself in the model’s shoes, picture yourself with friends and family, and–assuming everyone signs model releases–try and snap as many candids as you possibly can.

Explore Niches 

The most searched-for-keywords for stock photography are also the hardest to try and compete with. Try and think about what subject matter companies will have trouble finding unique and authentic stock images for, whether it is a medical procedure or an under-explored travel location. For this, you’re going to have to do a bit of research and find out what’s missing on stock photography sites–planning shoots around those niches would be the next step.

Walk with the Trends

Emerging technology such as commercial drones, virtual reality, and the world of crypto have much fewer stock photography options than subjects like love, happiness, or family. The latter are subjects that have existed since the dawn of time, with many people putting their own artistic spin on it; basically, a lot of content exists on these subjects already. Emerging tech often comes in the form of a product, but it is also quite possible to paint a broader picture of the product’s implications.

A stellar product shot is as important as knowing how to tell its story in a stock photo. Think of the now-iconic and meme-ified photo of the distracted boyfriend; that stock image has a story to tell. So why not stage a narrative (using to their full advantage the setting, models, and props) to convey a concept like the rise of technology or the impact social media has on people? 

And as other trends such as self-care or veganism (to give a few examples) rise and become more mainstream, the need for good stock photography increases. Stock photography players like Shutterstock, Wirestock, and Adobe typically keep tabs on emerging trends and requested shot lists, which can help you plan out your future work.

Capture Real Events

Event photography is another highly requested component in the market of stock images. But again, there is a lot of authentic energy to be captured; only this time, try and plan for a shot list with a mix of candid and staged. Your photos are likely to stand out immediately if you feature people in unusual costumes or in bright, stylish outfits. And, whenever possible, try and get a behind-the-scenes shot for a more intimate outcome.

Remember, event photography follows a particular set of rules, one of the most important being knowing your light source. Learn about camera etiquette prior to traveling and attending the event itself. Model releases will again be needed in any photos that feature people’s faces.

Don’t Forget about the Holidays 

When it comes to selling your stock photography, seasonal events (especially ones that are less mainstream in your area) are always in high demand. And even though certain holidays, like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s, have a lot of stock photography around it, it is still more than possible to carve out a niche in those areas.

Think of the more intimate moments that get overlooked–a child happily unwrapping their Christmas gift, or families saying what they’re grateful for this year, or a couple celebrating V-day with an outdoor getaway. There’s inspiration to be had everywhere, and the same goes for creativity and uniqueness. As the seasons change though, do not forget to take into account how outdoor lightning might affect your shot.

Approach the Shot with a Concept in Mind 

Despite spontaneity being key to moments of beautiful authenticity, having a rough concept in mind is equally important. Make sure you know why you are shooting and what you’re after; this comes with understanding the mood and the setting. If you’ve found yourself interested in a niche that requires a darker environment for a complex idea, going to sunny places is not necessarily going to give you the shot you’re after.

Don’t Limit Yourself to the Same Stock Photos 

Finding a niche that you’re good at can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, you can see yourself growing and perfecting this one in-demand area, but on the other–you can end up shooting the same thing over and over again. Every once in a while, urge yourself to try something new, something you haven’t tried before; make it a personal and professional challenge. A rich diversity is a surefire way to snag buyers’ attention. For instance, you can experiment with different angles or try your hand at wildlife photography (make sure to do your research on the best cameras for this one). Take many and different shots and think of ways to make your work stand out.

Think of Certain Shots as Thumbnails

Picture a designer or an influencer scouring stock photography websites for an upcoming project. Whatever image they’re looking for, it is likely to become a thumbnail in the future. Aim to cover your bases with this demographic as well. Consider taking photos that allow for text or design treatment. This way, designers and influencers can use your work for brochures, online ads, Youtube videos, or website cover photos.

Cater to Pitch Decks 

Marketers and creative directors who work on pitch decks often use these images to illustrate a certain type of persona; these are usually fictional representations of people who use their product or reflect their target audiences. Ensuring a variety and diversity when it comes to people and age groups in your images is going to do you wonders in the long run.

Post-Production Makes Perfection

After the shoot, make sure your photos are as close to being perfect as possible through post-production. This means editing; straightening crooked horizons and lines, zooming in, and removing dust marks or distractions, as well as ensuring that basic color corrections have been made. Then, help users find your stock photos more easily by adding relevant keywords and clear descriptive titles in the metadata of your images.

The post Tips for Creating Stock Photography that Sells appeared first on noupe.