Home sellers are often encouraged to hire a professional photographer to work on their home listing. This person will know how to show a room in its best light, helping to make your home stand out among its competitors.

Unfortunately, stellar photos might also lead to disappointment when someone tours your home. A location that looks appealing in a carefully staged photo may end up being too small, disheveled, or otherwise less than adequate in real life.

For this reason, sellers have started working more with virtual tours to supplement the imagery on a listing. With many buyers using online resources to assist in their home search, this kind of tool can give them a better feel for what a residence is like.

As the name suggests, the tours allow potential buyers to make a virtual walkthrough of the home using a computer, smartphone, or tablet. Instead of static photos, visitors can get a panoramic, three-dimensional look at each room and zoom in to see details.

This kind of experience doesn't quite live up to an in-person visit, where you'll be able to get a more immersive sense of the properties – along with any other sensory issues such as noise or odors. However, it can still be a considerable help for buyers. Prachi Agarwal, writing for Realtor.com, says virtual tours can help buyers determine which properties interest them and which ones won't meet their needs, so they won't waste time visiting properties they don't like. It can also be helpful to buyers who are moving long-distance and may need to purchase their home without seeing it in person.

In addition to providing a useful resource for buyers, virtual tours can be more convenient for sellers. The real estate site Zillow says they might lead to fewer showings, since the virtual tours can limit the number of in-person visitors who aren't serious about the property or will cross it off their list after seeing it up close. This, in turn, means sellers won't have to leave the home as frequently to allow potential buyers to see it.

Professional videographers can be hired to make a three-dimensional tour, but you can also make your own tour using some simple equipment. Zillow says smartphone apps can be used for this process to create a 360-degree view of a room. Amin Hashem, writing for the Ehab Photography, says you can also pick up a specialized camera to create seamless panoramic shots.

The virtual tour won't help your selling prospects too much if the home doesn't look good. Take the time to spruce up the home by cleaning, landscaping, repainting, and staging the rooms as necessary. Zillow says you'll also want to conceal any unnecessary items, open the doors between rooms, and make sure you don't include any people or pets in the shots.

It helps to have a basic sense of photography as well. Molly Grace, writing for the retail mortgage lender Quicken Loans, says you should determine which angles showcase the room well, and that your pictures should avoid including too much of the ceiling. Do the photography on a sunny day so you can use natural light instead of flash, and use a tripod to allow for a smooth panning view of the room.

Have the tour extend to the outdoor spaces as well, including a deck or yard. If your property has particularly nice sunrise or sunset views, take the photos at this time of day.

Make sure the camera lens is clean, and take plenty of photos so you can choose the best ones. Make sure you review the imagery afterward to see if any photos need to get some minor edits, such as cropping or tinkering with the contrast.

The virtual tour should only be one component of the home's presentation. You can also incorporate multimedia features such as photos and the residence's floor plan.

Not every home benefits from an immersive virtual tour. High quality photography will suffice for some residences, and a video or two showing a walkthrough of the home can also be helpful. Virtual tours can be most useful in competitive markets, since they'll help your home stand out more.