How To Create an NFT – Step by Step Guide to Making a Nonfungible Token
You’ve probably heard about NFTs selling at record-high prices, but you’re unsure how to make one. It can be tough to figure out how to create an NFT, especially if you’re not familiar with the technology. In this article, we’ll walk you through creating your own NFT. With just a few simple steps, you’ll be on your way to creating and managing your own NFT collections.
What Are NFTs
A nonfungible token (NFT) is a unique data unit stored on a blockchain and cannot be interchanged. One can make any digital files such as images, tweets, videos, or audio into an NFT.
NFTs are most popular with digital art, sports collectibles, game tokens, and even memorable tweets. A nonfungible token is not something you hold in your hands or frame to put on your wall. They exist on the blockchain and can be stored in a digital ledger or an online cryptocurrency wallet.
NFTs provide a public certificate of authenticity demonstrating that you own the underlying digital file.
How To Create An NFT
Start With the Concept
Before you make an NFT, you have to start with the concept. Without this step, you can’t create NFTs that make sense; they won’t be cohesive. The theme has to represent the NFT collection. Think of this NFT collection like you would an art exhibition.
Every featured artist ensures that the collection has a theme that helps you understand why each piece belongs together. If all your elements relate to greed, find a title that will make people think of greed and organize your digital studio accordingly.
Be sure that the concept is simple and something you can easily name. Doing this should make the rest of the process easier because you have a clear vision of your NFT creation.
Get a Crypto Wallet and Some Crypto
No matter how great your NFT creation is, you won’t be able to put it in an NFT marketplace if you don’t have a digital wallet with some crypto in it. You’re going to have to set one up before you keep going.
If you don’t already own some crypto, you can sign up at one of these exchanges to buy crypto.
At the time of publication, Robinhood, WeBull and SoFi do not permit you to move crypto to another wallet.
After buying the crypto, you need to move it to a cryptocurrency wallet.
Thankfully, getting a crypto wallet isn’t all that challenging. There are several options for the best crypto wallets.
You can set one up for free if you want to. There are a few free solutions that you can find online or through the app store. Get one that appeals to you, but it’s best to pick some of the most reputable and secure ones like Coinbase Wallet. Coinbase wallet is free and user-friendly since you can use Coinbase for also buying crypto. It is just one of many wallets available to you and other NFT artists.
MetaMask wallets are also popular but more complicated if you are just getting started with creating NFTs.
Make sure you save the wallet’s seed phrase, generally 12 words but could also be 18 or 24 words. The cryptocurrency wallet seed phrase is your security code. It’s linked to your wallet and grants access to the cryptocurrency you earn.
Pick Your Favorite Blockchain
Several platforms enable you to sell NFTs on various blockchains from your digital wallet account. Research your options.
Ethereum is the most popular layer 1 blockchain for NFTs, Metaverse, and DeFi. Although the gas fees for using the Ethereum blockchain are currently high, the transaction fees are supposed to improve with the launch of ETH 2.0. The criticism of Ethereum having a big carbon footprint should also disappear after migrating to Proof-Of-Stake.
Cheaper blockchains like Binance Smart chain or Solana are some of the other possible options.
Create Your NFT Marketplace Account
The next thing you need to do is set up your NFT marketplace account.
There are a lot of online platforms accounts available to you. Choose the one that best suits your needs, but there are a number of them that could serve as home to your first NFT.
Although OpenSea is the most popular platform, some of the top NFT marketplaces include Axie Marketplace, Larva Labs/CryptoPunks, NBA Top Shot Marketplace, Rarible, SuperRare, Foundation, Nifty Gateway, Mintable, and ThetaDrop. You’ll need to research each NFT marketplace to find a platform that’s a good fit for your NFT.
There are also NFT platforms dedicated to other blockchains, such as Solsea for Solana, while AtomicHub caters to the Wax blockchain.
Unless you have a compelling reason to pick another platform, it is best to stick to the popular ones since they have the most eyeballs.
The next thing you want to do is spend time on your newly acquired account. You want to link more than just your digital wallet account. You’ll like to connect all of your social media accounts. You want to personalize it as much as you can.
The more time you spend doing this, the more folks will find your NFT collection or NFT collections if you start introducing more of these as time goes on.
It’s in your best interest to be easily found because it means you have a higher chance of selling NFTs, which is the goal. While investing in art is a multi-billion dollar industry, most of the price action is concentrated only on a select number of famous artists. Not every artist commands the same price as Leonardo da Vinci.
NFTs, which represent digital art, still follow the same basic principles of fame coupled with supply and demand economics.
Link Your Wallet to the Marketplace
After you’ve set your wallet up, you’ll want to connect it with the NFT marketplace of your choice.
Each NFT marketplace has specific instructions creators need to follow to create a nonfungible token.
On OpenSea or Rarible, clicking the create button in the top left asks you to connect your wallet. You’ll be given a list of compatible wallets.
If you have installed Metamask or Coinbase’s extension, you’ll get a notification asking whether you want to connect your wallet. You can also link to the NFT marketplace by scanning the QR code if you’re using the Coinbase Wallet app.
You will see the NFT creation page if you’ve connected your wallet.
Start Working on Your Digital Art
Here’s the fun part for any true NFT artist. It is where you get to work on the stuff you love to work on: your art.
You’ve done a lot so far. You’ve settled on a concept now. You have to fill that concept jar with all the pieces you’d like.
Like starting a website, you only want to work on things you’re passionate about.
If you’re a singer, create songs that you can make into an audio file. If you’re a poet, then create poems. Do what you love to do so that this doesn’t start to feel like a job. If paintings inspire you, pick a format that lets you create digital images.
Upload Your Files
The next thing you want to worry about is uploading your files, whatever those might be. Those who choose a simple marketplace to work with should have no trouble uploading their files.
Once you do, you’re creating your first digital asset. Depending on which NFT marketplace you choose, you may need to have your identity verified before you’re allowed to upload files.
Those in this situation will have to wait a few days, usually around three days. After your identity is verified, you’ll be able to upload files.
You’re going to be asked to choose a blockchain technology before you’re allowed to upload your file. The ones available to you depend on the marketplace you choose. One free option is the Ethereum blockchain which would work great if you get an ETH wallet, but this is just one option.
One important point to highlight is that the file you upload should be your own creation, and you should own the copyright to it. Nothing could be more devastating than having your particular NFT become famous and later deal with copyright lawsuits.
Of course, you can use other images, videos, songs, etc., if you have a copyright license to use them as NFTs. For example, NBA Top Shot moments are among the most prominent NFT success stories and early pioneers for blockchain-based art created using NFTs. Dapper Laps has a license from the NBA for digitizing the videos into NBA Top Shot moments.
Start Minting NFTs
The next thing you have to do is figure out what you’re going to do about minting the NFTs. Some folks can get their NFTs minted free, but this option isn’t necessarily free.
The reality is that minting NFTs will always cost something.
A certain amount of energy is needed to create an NFT, called gas or gwei. The amount of gwei needed to mint your unique digital assets depends on when it’s minted. It’s common knowledge that gwei fees are often lower in the middle of the night and early in the morning. You can use GasTracker to check the current gas fees.
Ethereum-based NFTs can be created for free by both OpenSea and Rarible, thanks to “lazy minting” methods. You may create an NFT and put it on sale without having to write it to the blockchain using lazy minting, which avoids any costs.
When someone purchases it, the costs of writing your NFT to the blockchain are included in the purchase price. It prevents you from paying $5 to $500 (or more!) to create an NFT that no one purchases.
When you mint your NFTs for free, you pass the fee to your customers. They’ll have to pay those gas fees you don’t want to pay. You will have to take that into account when you price your NFTs.
You won’t be able to price your unique digital asset for the highest amount possible because your customers will be paying your listed price and the gwei fees. Keep this in mind when deciding on whether to avoid gwei fees or not.
List Your NFT
However, if you choose to sell your NFT, several alternatives are open to you.
- “Fixed price” – you set a price for your NFT, and if someone is willing to pay that amount, they can buy it. Setting a fixed price allows the first individual ready to meet that amount to acquire your NFT. You may immediately sell your NFT by establishing a fixed price.
- “Open for bids” allows potential buyers to submit offers to purchase your NFT.
- In a “timed auction,” the starting and end dates are set. You may select a minimum price and choose when the auction will begin and how long it will continue. Those interested in purchasing your NFT will have a deadline to submit their final bid as part of a timed sale. When establishing the minimum price, keep fees in mind because if you set the price too low due to transaction costs, you might lose money on your NFT sale.
- The “unlimited auction” option will allow bidders to make bids until you accept one.
Promote The Minted NFTs
Okay, so now you’ve got your newly-minted NFTs, and you’re wondering about the next steps. Since you decided to do everything free, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. You’ve got a lot of work ahead of you.
If you paid the listing fee in the marketplace, then the NFT marketplace you belong to might help with your listing. The platform might help promote your digital asset, making it easier to sell an NFT.
If you do everything for free, you’re going to have to advertise your NFT yourself. You will have to find platforms where folks can discover your NFT projects and buy them from you.
When you mint NFTs, you get a link that you can use to promote these assets wherever you think you can, like Twitter or other social media platforms. It would be beneficial to have a healthy following of folks interested in NFT sales because they know what you’re selling.
If you don’t have this following, it might be wise to cultivate one now. If you have the time, grow this following before creating an NFT. Life would be much easier if you already had interested parties.
How To Cultivate an NFT Following
Although the creation of NFT has technical details, it is the easy part. You’re probably wondering how to cultivate a following interested in NFT artwork.
You need to learn how to target folks that have many NFT collections or are at least interested in them. Use associated hashtags to find these folks. Digital creators usually target folks that aren’t only interested in NFTs but would be interested in the kind you’re making.
Look for folks interested in the kind of art you’re making, and it’ll be easier to sell your NFT of NFTs. The following are some additional tips to help you cultivate this following:
Connect to Your Audience
You’re going to have to be active.
If you want your followers to fill your digital wallet with some native cryptocurrency, you’ll want to be as active as you can be. It means responding to questions, comments, or whatever else they send your way. If possible, you want to post something on your social media platform a few times a day.
It may seem excessive, but this will help ensure your followers engage with your material, and it keeps your social media account exciting; it’s something they’ll want to follow.
Personalize It As Much as You Can
It’s of the utmost importance that you personalize your social media accounts. Some people treat their accounts like a bulletin board, where they promote everything they can. They only post things they’re selling. That’s not an intelligent way to reach a buyer’s wallet.
If you want to see your Coinbase wallet fill up, you want to get a little more personable. Your followers will more than likely be interested in digital collectibles if they get to know you. Post things that might intrigue your followers.
Get honest, be open, and do anything you can to let your followers into your creative process, and you’ll see that they’ll be more interested in that audio clip you just made into an NFT.
Most people don’t tell you that NFT creators aren’t just NFT creators. They’re also good marketers.
Because you have to be willing to open up through social media accounts, this step can be pretty involved. NFT marketplaces sometimes offer NFT artists different ways to advertise because they don’t have to do all of the work on their own to sell an NFT.
Failing to do this and focusing only on your bank account will seem obvious. Your followers will see that you don’t see them as supporters but as dollar signs. You don’t want to appear that way. If your goal of creating an NFT was to create a new career successfully, then make a genuine connection with your audience.
Offer a Few Giveaways To Sell NFTs
Another thing that you can do is offer giveaways through one or all of your social media platforms. The giveaways have to be tangible.
You have to keep in mind that creating an NFT is incredibly daring because most people don’t know what an NFT is. An NFT or nonfungible token is a way to prove ownership of a particular piece of art using blockchain technology.
With this giveaway, you’ll get folks who might be a little scared of the NFT movement a reason to take a risk. Make the giveaway worth it, and you’ll be helping the movement continue to grow. It might be a good idea to start your giveaway campaigns as early as possible to give yourself the best chance.
You’ll be surprised to learn that most NFTs start this way through word of mouth and the power of people like you marketing their NFTs.
Be sure to tag your marketplace.
Another thing you’ll be surprised to learn is that many folks forget to tag their NFT marketplaces, which is a mistake; that’s one way to direct folks to the NFT platform where they can buy your first NFT. If all of this sounds challenging, it’s because it is. I wouldn’t lie about this.
Marketing and connecting with people who might be interested in your NFT are the most challenging steps in an NFT sale. The sales process is a long and winding one. So much happens when you decide to make an NFT to the point someone owns a digital file.
Frequently Asked Questions About NFTs
When you’re creating an NFT, you’ll probably come across a few questions that need answering within the NFT world. The following are some common questions you may ask as you try to sell your NFT:
How Much Does It Cost To Make an NFT?
It’s pretty much free to make an NFT, so you don’t have to worry about how much this may cost. When it’s free, you end up with a few more challenges.
If you want your NFT marketplaces to help you make your NFT a little more visible, you may have to spend some cash. Depending on the project’s complexity, if you spend some money, making an NFT can cost between $7 to $150. I’m not even including the transaction costs.
Most NFT marketplaces are going to charge a transaction fee or minting fee. As mentioned before, the minting process takes a certain amount of gwei, which isn’t free. If you don’t pass this expense on to your buyers, you must calculate it.
Most marketplaces will charge about 2.5 percent for every transaction to cover this cost. These fees can get crazy if the time is terrible and the price for the NFT is high. Some people have seen fees for gwei reach $2,000.
You probably won’t have to worry about that until you become a famous NFT artist, should that happen to you, but it’s something you should be aware of.
Can I Create My Own NFT?
Yes! You can create your own NFT. Creating an NFT or an entire collection is fun and could be completely free. The part that gets a little more complex is selling what you’ve managed to create.
If you’re a little concerned about all of this, that’s okay. I’m going to let you in on a secret of mine. I wasn’t sure I could do this either. I saw folks like me who decided to dive into this world and create their own NFTs.
Some of these folks were newbies. They didn’t know anything about this world, but they took the time and learned. I talked to other folks creating their NFTs. I asked questions and posted issues I was dealing with, and they helped me out.
Don’t forget there’s an eager NFT community hoping to be part of the growth, and they want to hear from you and help you. As this NFT grows, the more valuable it’ll become.
How To Create an NFT Art Piece and Sell It?
As you can see, it’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s possible. You just need to be passionate about the art pieces you’re creating. Then, just create a digital wallet that you can use to make your NFT marketplace account.
After doing all that, you have to upload your NFT and figure out how much it should sell for.
The hard part is finding buyers, especially as someone just starting. You’re going to have to learn how to market yourself effectively. You can do it. You’ll have to be patient and willing to learn.
Is It Free To Create an NFT?
People can make these digital assets for free. You just have to use the right marketplace and wallet to have your NFTs listed.
You’ll have to be willing to reduce the price of your NFT since you will pass on the minting fee to your buyers. That is all you have to do to ensure your NFT creation doesn’t cost you anything.
What Kind of NFTs Sell the Best?
The following NFTs sell the best due to the community built around them.
Bored Ape Yacht Club
CryptoPunks
The Sandbox
Art Blocks
Doodles
Cool Cats
Decentraland
World of Women
What Exactly Gives an NFT Its Value?
I’m sure this question is somewhere in the back of your mind. It’s only natural to want to understand what gives an NFT its value.
Understanding what it means to own NFT can help you figure out how to make sure your NFT is valuable. You want the people who own your NFT to feel excited about this.
There are a few things that give an NFT its value.
Fame. For example, the person creating the new NFT could be why it’s valuable. This one is for a famous person, like a Hollywood star. Big-time artists and names you’ve heard of at least once can sell NFTs at a pretty good price. People want their digital and tangible assets because their names are popular.
Rarity is a big deal if you want your nonfungible token to be valuable. You will have to add as many details to your new NFT as possible. The rarer your nonfungible token is, the more you can ask for it. Fight the urge to repeat previous successes. If you try to remix a previous success, you’ll bring down the value of both NFTs. Avoid minting the same NFT twice.
Liquidity is a big deal, too. When creating NFTs, it’s wise to ensure that what you’re attempting to sell is easily exchanged. To do this right, make sure that your NFT is associated with a popular blockchain, like the Ethereum blockchain.
Buyers want to exchange their newly-acquired digital files if they so choose easily. If you use a blockchain that isn’t so popular, you risk owning an NFT that can’t be traded easily. That drastically reduces the amount you’re able to charge for your NFT.
Access and Features. When you’re unknown, the other thing that could give your NFT value is what is given along with your NFT.
Some folks create an NFT that grants the owner all sorts of perks, like VIP invitations to exclusive events or opportunities to connect in real-time with the NFT creator, which is pretty cool.
All this might seem like a lot, but that’s what you’ll have to do to ensure your NFT is valuable
Are NFTs Legal?
One of the first things to consider when determining whether an NFT is a security is its intended purpose and price. If the NFT is connected to an existing asset, such as a photograph or digital art work, and offered as a collectible with a public guarantee of authenticity on the blockchain, it’s unlikely to be considered a security.
However, if the NFT is being developed and sold as a way for members of the public to profit from investments or earn returns, it will be more likely to be considered a security.
NFTs are still in their early days and the SEC has not yet provided their guidance. On the bright side, SEC finally updated their accredited investor qualifications making it more accessible
Can I Hold NFTs In Retirement Accounts
NFTs are digital art but also involve cryptocurrency. IRS classifies investing in collectibles in retirement accounts as prohibited transaction. Since legal and tax experts are still working out the details if NFTs are considered a collectible or property, it is best to avoid buying or trading NFTs in retirement accounts.
If you want to invest crypto in IRAs, it is best to go with reputed providers like Alto CryptoIRA or Bitcoin IRA who can provide appropriate guidance and compliance
Final Thoughts On How To Create An NFT
Now, you know everything there is to know about creating an NFT. Hopefully, some of this information will make navigating this new digital world easier.
If everything goes well, you could use your digital art to fund all sorts of things in your life, like your next artistic endeavor or maybe a trip you’ve been longing for. Or even save more money to invest in other income-producing assets like real estate investing or stock investing.
Caution is advised with any new asset class, especially related to cryptocurrency.
It’s pretty exciting to be a part of something still in its infancy. I can tell you this much. You’re brave for going on this adventure, exploring something unknown but with so much promise.
Readers, have you dabbled in the world of NFTs? Would you take the plunge and create your NFT for fun?
John Dealbreuin came from a third world country to the US with only $1,000 not knowing anyone; guided by an immigrant dream. In 12 years, he achieved his retirement number.
He started Financial Freedom Countdown to help everyone think differently about their financial challenges and live their best lives. John resides in the San Francisco Bay Area enjoying nature trails and weight training.
Here are his recommended tools
M1 Finance: John compared M1 Finance against Vanguard, Schwab, Fidelity, Wealthfront and Betterment to find the perfect investment platform. He uses it due to zero fees, very low minimums, automated investment with automatic rebalancing. The pre-built asset allocations and fractional shares helps one get started right away.
Personal Capital: This is a free tool John uses to track his net worth on a regular basis and as a retirement planner. It also alerts him wrt hidden fees and has a budget tracker included.
Streitwise is available for accredited and non-accredited investors. They have one of the lowest fees and high “skin in the game,” with over $5M of capital invested by founders in the deals. It is also open to foreign/non-USA investor. Minimum investment is $5,000.
Platforms like Yieldstreet provide investment options in art, legal, structured notes, venture capital, etc. They also have fixed-income portfolios spread across multiple asset classes with a single investment with low minimums of $10,000.
