This is the second part of "Photography: The Most Visible Reflection of Your Company’s Brand." This whitepaper by Brian Balduf, founder of VHT, Inc., explains to brokers why, in the age of iPads and Pinterest, they are missing the boat if they are using MLS photos on their websites, instead of original, high-quality photography. Read Part One here.

This is where most companies fail completely. Even if an agent gets or takes great photographs, if they aren't displayed properly it defeats the purpose and makes it hard to enforce standards. Why buy a Picasso and then not put it in a place of prominence?

Size

Nothing is worse than small photographs. Most MLSs shrink photos to almost unviewable sizes to save on file space – relatively low-resolution 320x240 photographs scream, "Our company is stuck in the 90s." The storage wars ended years ago. Storage and bandwidth are cheap. Photos come out of today's cameras at huge sizes, so go big or go home.

Position

Photos are much more important to a consumer, especially early in the home-buying process, than data or text about room sizes, tax rates and other information. Put the photos front and center on your site. They should be the main focus of any property details page, right along with a call to action. Great photographs affect, move and motivate people better than anything else. Use that to get buyers to schedule an appointment or request more info or whatever your best Call To Action happens to be. If the picture sells them, they can easily get the rest of the data/facts by scrolling down.

Clutter

Good design is all about simple elegance. Don't ruin the effect of a great photograph by surrounding it with clutter: thumbnails that are too small to see, five different calls to action, and/or a ton of text. These all detract from the power of a great photograph. Let good photos stand on their own and do what they are meant to do – entice consumers to engage.

Yard Sale

If you or your agents do utilize multiple photography or virtual tour companies, decide on a standard display for your site. Either embed the visual right in your property details pages or pick one style of viewer. Having viewers/virtual tours from multiple companies on your site not only makes it look like a yard sale, it's very confusing for consumers and it does nothing for your brand. Most virtual tour company viewers confuse customers on your site with a different set of Calls to Action and a different set of tools/features. Worst of all, the virtual tour company's website typically gets all the SEO benefit.

Quantity vs. Quality

For some crazy reason, a number of real estate sites have taken the importance of photographs to mean 'the more the better.' But when it comes to quantity vs. quality, in real estate, quality will always win. Early in the buying process, consumers are scanning hundreds of homes. They are only looking at a few photos per home. Your listings have to put their best foot forward or they're likely to get passed over.

Even later in the process, most viewers are only looking at a few scenes: front, kitchen, living room, master bedroom, master bath, and view of back. The more stunning and striking those scenes are, the more likely buyers are to inquire further. If the display includes 10 shots of the foyer and shots of third and fourth bedrooms, you're just creating diminishing returns on the Wow! factor.

• Part 1: Photography: The Most Visible Reflection of Your Company's Brand
• Part 3: Managing and Getting the Most ROI from Your Visual Assets