With all the hype around NFTs, every artist, creator and entrepreneur is looking for ways to cash in on the latest craze while trying to make an impact on the space. However, if you’re new to NFTs it may be quite daunting and intimidating to get started.
From conceptualizing to minting, rallying a community and selling your NFT, we’ll cover all the steps you can take to make the process as seamless as possible.
Step 1: Conceptualisation
Coming up with a concept could be tricky if you aren’t creative – but don’t let that bog you down. It’s as simple as having a broad understanding of the NFT space and what types of NFT projects you can start. The popular projects lately are your collectibles, PFPs and art.
A great way to come up with a concept is to understand what you’re passionate about and what you’d be able to execute relatively quickly and without having to sign a second mortgage on the house. Most newbie, one-man-bands either go the art or PFP direction. So you can create digital art, upload your poems, photos etc. as NFTs and sell them to make a name for yourself.
From conceptualising to minting, rallying a community and selling your NFT, we’ll cover all the steps you can take to make the process as seamless as possible.
Step 2: Decide on a platform (marketplace) and chain
With a range of NFT marketplaces and chains available, you’re really open to taking your pick. Opensea is the largest marketplace for NFTs but there are others out there each with their own benefits, niche artists etc.
| Platform | Chains Supported | Getting Started | Platform Fees |
|---|---|---|---|
Opensea |
Ethereum (ETH) & Polygon (MATIC) | Compatible Wallet (MetaMask for example) | 2.5% Royalty Fees + Gas (If minting on ETH) |
Rarible |
Ethereum, Flow and Tezos | Compatible Wallet (MetaMask for example) | Fees vary |
Holaplex |
Solana (SOL) | Fantom and Arconnect wallet | 0.000005 SOL ($0.00025) per transaction |
Step 3: Setup your community
It’s time to dust off your Twitter account from yesteryear or set up a new account along with a Discord server. Discord is the go-to platform for crypto and gamer fanatics and between that and Twitter you’ll need to get your community rallied behind your project.
Discord isn’t always necessary if you’re into selling one-off pieces or aren’t big into building a massive collection, but Twitter is vital. Do your homework on trending content, hashtags and accounts that may be interested in what you have to offer.
“Regardless of how low or high the market is, the community is so enthusiastic and constantly tagging our project in different things constantly talking about it,” said Maliha Abidi, whose Women Rise NFT collection launched in November 2021 and sold out in 50 days, generating 2,000 ETH of trading volume in the process.
Step 4: Get those creative juices flowing
Although this should be somewhat in parallel with step 3, now that you have your bases covered you can get to work. It’s always advisable that you use the resources you have at your disposal if you’re doing this project solo. If you have financial backing and have the resources to onboard a team, great.
When creating NFTs, try follow these rules: research similar projects or see where you could collab with other creators; keep your audience top-of-mind while creating; keep in mind the file type and sizes of your content (based on your platform); factor in accessibility (if you’re going the audio or written route).
Step 5: Minting your NFTs
Okay so by now you’ve conceptualized, chosen your platform and chain, built your community and created your art. Now comes the fun part – minting your collection or single NFT. When it comes to minting your project you have two choices:
1. Code
2. Low/No Code
If you’re a coder by trade or somehow figured out how to run code to deploy your projects, great. But the majority of people opt for either direct-upload to their platform of choice (step 2) or they use low/no-code platforms like Moralis & Thirdweb to deploy their NFTs.
Uploading your NFT and subsequently “minting” on Opensea for example is really simple and each platform gives step-by-step instructions to do so.
*If you’re minting on Opensea you have the option to go “gas-free” (on Polygon) to dodge the high gas fees on the Ethereum blockchain.
Step 6: Selling your NFTs
Congratulations for making it this far. You’ve done the hard work to get here so give yourself a pat on the back. Now all that’s left is to sell your creation. Pricing can be based on your research, how much you feel your piece is worth and a range of other factors.
The going price for projects ranges between 0.03 and 0.1ETH. However, you can test the market and gauge where your art sells to make more informed decisions down the line.
| Platform | Average Price (USD) |
|---|---|
| Mintable | $900.00 |
| Opensea | $500.00 |
| Valuable | $150.00 |
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Becoming an NFT creator may seem very intimidating at first but once you have one or two under your belt you’re set.