NFTs have taken the digital world by storm! The industry is making new strides every day, with some projects witnessing historic sales. Amid this, creating NFT collections have not only become profitable but brings you a step closer to building a thriving community. If you have plans to make an NFT collection, this is the best time to get going!
Have an idea for an NFT collection but not sure how to mint it? We will take you through all the steps from creating NFTs professionally to distributing them the right way!
The first step to make an NFT: Get professional
Before you make your NFT, you must research thoroughly and have all of the details down to a T. Most importantly, you must know the NFT-specific laws of your country. In some countries, for instance, you will have to register yourself as a business before you can drop your NFT collection.
South Korea had initially announced that it will not consider NFTs as digital assets. However, last week the country changed its stance and declared plans to tax NFTs. On the other hand, there are several crypto-friendly countries like Switzerland, Germany, and Singapore, which are either crypto tax-free or have no capital gains tax. Essentially, the laws vary from country to country so make sure you know your nation’s properly.
Once you have understood the legalities, it’s time to get professional! With an NFT collection, you are essentially building a brand. Hence, you must ensure you have a striking brand voice before you drop your collection. How exactly do you do this?
First, get a unique logo made to represent your brand. A logo is your brand’s identity and a good first impression can take your project a long way. Equally important is the font. Thus, make sure you get professional help from top-rated font makers, like borydesign on Fiverr, to create the best fonts.
Next, buy a domain name and a professional email address. You can even get an uber-cool email signature from leading designers on Fiverr like we did! Having a good email signature can help market your project in a smart and professional way.
Focus on the artwork and find great talent!
Having a great concept and brand doesn’t mean much if you don’t have excellent artwork to back it up. If you are not an artist, your best bet is to hire talented artists and designers to create the artwork for you. Depending on the type of your NFTs, there are plenty of people you can hire.
2D art
The good news? For simple 2D art, such as that on trading card NFTs, you’ll just need the help of a graphic designer and not a developer. Depending on the kind of artwork you want, make sure the artist you choose has adequate experience with design tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator. Some NFT collectibles like Robotos are also created on Figma, which offers basic tools to easily compile different parts of NFTs.
3D art
An increasing number of NFT projects these days are focusing on 3D art or releasing 3D models later in the roadmap. Avatar project Cyberkongz is a perfect example of how you can use 3D modelling to use your art as avatars in the metaverse. This means the holders of your NFT will be able to roam around metaverses and participate in various activities in the form of your avatar! With the growing interest in metaverses, this will also be a great means for you to attract collectors to your project.
Generation
Another highly sought-after type of NFT is generative art NFTs. To make a generative art NFT, you have to ensure your artwork is made in layers. Then, you can find developers on Fiverr to use algorithms to turn your layers into generative art!
Giving your NFT utility
At the end of the day, NFTs are an investment. Many collectors are in it for the long haul and would only want to invest in projects that offer them benefits. Top projects like BAYC, CyberKongz, and Cool Cats all come with utilities. Well, long story short, utilities are absolutely essential for your NFTs.
While common NFT marketplaces like Rarible or OpenSea allows you to add utilities to your collection, it is more challenging. Using NiftyKit can give you some great benefits but for true control, you require a smart contract. You can make an NFT collection with simple contracts, including ones that use the fork (a copy with new rules) of another contract or just have simple mechanics.
Custom smart contracts and more
While easier to create, simple smart contracts are insufficient to create more complex projects. This includes blockchain games, NFT marketplaces, or developing interactive communities. The same goes for any projects that involve launching a separate token, such as Sneaky Vampire Syndicate’s $BLOOD token or CyberKongz’ Banana tokens. For all these and more, you need custom smart contracts.
However, these are more expensive and highly complex to create. But, don’t worry, there are plenty of coders you can hire to code your customized smart contracts. Using Ethereum? You can hire a solidity expert on Fiverr to code your smart contract or ERC-20 token. Other developers can help you launch on Solana, Cardano, and other blockchains.
For NFT and blockchain games, you will need a specialist
If you want to make an NFT or blockchain game, not only will you need a 3D artist and a coder to write your smart contract, you will also need a blockchain game designer. The games can vary from play-to-earn battle games like Axie Infinity to competitive MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role-playing game) like 9 Lives Arena. Virtual horseracing game, Zed Run, racing games like REVV Racing and F1 Delta Time are also quite popular. Based on the type of game you want to launch, find a suitable blockchain game designer.
How to let people mint NFTs through your website
First things first: you need a website. NFT projects with their own website do much better than those without one. This is where your potential buyer will come to learn all about the project and hence, is crucial to create a lasting first impression.
Web Design is important to represent your NFT correctly
In the name of having a website, it’s not enough to just put some things around. An unresponsive, unappealing website will do your project more harm than good. Thus, make sure to get a UI/UX made with a responsive design. Our own Content Manager used a frontend developer, Joost from Fiverr and said she would recommend him to anybody! Feel free to check out his profile.
Of course, you’ll need photographs or illustrations to bring your website to life. For this too, you can find the right artists on Fiverr. At NFTevening, we used graphic designer and illustrator, Subhadeep Das for our first-ever NFT. We have also used this illustrator in the past. Additionally, you can get a website content writer to pen error-free content for your site.
When it comes to coding your site, it’s a cakewalk if you find a professional! For coding all things frontend, find a frontend developer who is comfortable working with React JS. To connect your smart contract to your website, you can hire a backend developer. With the help of all these professionals, you are bound to develop an impressive website for your project!
Things to consider for NFT minting success
Even with the best NFTs, project utility, and a website, your job’s not quite over yet. You have to vigorously promote your NFTs to sell them. Thankfully, there are several things you can do to nail your marketing!
Firstly, social media is a game-changer. Just like any business, your NFT project too should have all social media accounts, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, and more. You must also link all the accounts to your website. Furthermore, make sure you regularly post on every social media platform to grow your followers. Of course, managing all the accounts and posting constantly can be a bit tedious; so you may need to hire a Social Media Manager.
Some projects also use shillers to take it up a notch. Put simply, these are people who’ll send mass DMs, especially on Discord and Reddit to promote the project. You can also release advertisements on NFT-focused websites and even metaverses. For this, you can take the help of advert or gif makers.
Fair Distribution at mint
If you want a smooth NFT drop, you might want to do a pre-sale. These are mostly meant for early-backers and only those with a mint pass or those on a whitelist are allowed to participate in the pre-sale. Often, eligible users are added to whitelists based on their activity on the Discord channel. As a result, you will need a Discord Manager capable of running a community to ensure fair distribution.
Additionally, Discord bots allow you to verify holders, hold competitions for your community, instantly ban malicious accounts, and more. Many bots are coded in Python. So if that’s something you want, you can easily find Python developers on Fiverr.
Ultimately, while it’s easy to make an NFT, it may not be so cheap. Of course, you can even learn to code yourself! Maybe you can take up one of these courses on Fiverr. Whether you decide to make NFTs yourself or take professional help, make sure to do your due diligence before taking the leap!
All investment/financial opinions expressed by NFTevening.com are not recommendations.
This article is educational material.
As always, make your own research prior to making any kind of investment.
