Currently, everyone is talking about NFTs. But do you really understand what NFTs are? Do you know how to create, buy, or sell NFTs? If you are wondering the answers to these questions, you are definitely at the right place. Here, we will talk about NFTs from scratch and find out the correct method of creating your own NFT. So, you can also sell your own NFT in the marketplace and earn some bucks or even bag millions if it is good. So, when was the first time you heard about NFTs? It might be when you saw the news of Nyan Cat being sold for $600,000. Or you might have seen some celebrities and high-profile people entering the world of NFTs. Before we move further, let us have a brief idea about NFTs.
What is an NFT?
NFTs are non-fungible tokens that are unique and cannot be replaced with anything. Bitcoin is fungible, while a one-of-a-kind trading card is non-fungible. This is because if you trade one bitcoin, then you can get another identical bitcoin. On the other hand, if you trade one card, you cannot get the same card because they are entirely different from one another. NFTs are digital assets. Anything that has a digital existence can be converted into an NFT. You can have digital ownership of your assets and even sell them in the market. This is the current power of NFTs, where plenty of people is making millions by selling their artwork in the NFT marketplace. NFTs can be an image, video, music file, or anything. Now, you might be thinking that someone can copy your files. Well, that’s not true. NFTs have a unique existence globally, and if an owner wants, they can limit the ownership to a single person only. Some NFTs are created to make them available for multiple people. On the contrary, some NFTs are very limited; only a handful of copies are made available.
NFTs solving ownership issues
The craze of NFTs is visible in every industry, and there are people from around the globe showing interest in it. Millions of dollars are being paid to artists and designers for their artwork. Every artist faces an issue of copyright, and NFTs completely solve this problem. The best thing about NFTs is that everything is recorded on the blockchain. The ownership of every digital asset is traceable on the network, and it cannot be altered by any chance. As the entire history of the NFT is on the blockchain, it is traceable and immutable.
Why invest in NFTs?
Now, you might be wondering why people are paying millions of dollars for images and videos, right? Owning digital assets is like owning real-world artwork. As everything is becoming digital, people are moving towards metaverse too. A metaverse is a place where you can own everything digitally. This concept is basically for mega-rich people who can easily afford to spend money even in the virtual world. This money is definitely going to give in better returns down the line. Currently, the NFT market is booming. NFTs are digital assets that are consistently incrementing in value. People are purchasing NFTs like paintings and GIFs because they think about the future. In the metaverse, people are buying properties and land with real money. When they build a house for themselves on this land, they use these paintings and GIFs to decorate their place. This is where NFTs are being used widely. On one side, digital creators are getting a good amount for their hard work. On the other hand, rich people buy NFTs at a lower price and sell them at higher prices as an investment. This is another investment just like crypto, where everything depends on how viral you can make your NFT. So, if you are thinking about investing in NFTs, here’s how you can get started. Now, let us go through the step-by-step procedure for creating your own NFTs. With this process, you will be able to mint your own NFT and sell it in the market.
Step 1 – Determine the digital asset for minting your NFT
The first and essential step is to select a digital item. This is because you can mint NFTs for any digital asset, from photos and videos to music and text. Anything available digitally can be converted into an NFT. So, you first need to pick an item for minting your NFT. This is the most crucial step because you need to choose something that is trending. If you select a music file to mint into NFT, then there are very few chances of it becoming famous or going viral. On the other hand, if you create an image or GIF compilation of your own, then there are high chances of it going viral. Currently, people are more into buying NFTs related to images, GIFs, and videos. So, it is highly recommended to focus on them right now. Whether you are purchasing an NFT or minting your own, you should keep this point in mind. You can read more about creating an NTF here. Rather than building your own trend, it is easy to ride the current trend. Once you have built a brand with your NFTs, you can start a new trend of your own. This will be easier than fighting head-on with the current NFT leaders with something new. Now, let us move to the next step.
Step 2 – Setup Cryptowallet
The second important task is setting up a crypto wallet to handle Ether. There are different crypto wallets available online for trading and managing Ether. Among all the others, the most popular one is MetaMask. The main reason is its security and easy accessibility on all the platforms. You can easily access MetaMask from your Android or iOS devices. On top of that, the MetaMask extension very easily integrates with your browsers. Once you set up your MetaMask wallet, you must copy the public address. This address is required for receiving Ether or even if you wish to load your wallet with Ether. To sell an NFT in the marketplace, you need to pay the gas fees with Ether. So, you need to buy Ether from your MetaMask wallet or send it from some other digital wallet. You can choose any particular wallet like Coinbase, Gemini, and more as per the transaction fees and everything.
Important Things to Keep in Mind while setting up MetaMask Wallet
The convenience you are receiving at your fingertips with the MetaMask wallet comes at a security cost. If you are putting in only some amount of Ether in your wallet, you don’t need to worry much about it. But, if you are putting in all the Ether you have, it is highly advised to use Brave Browser for privacy and security and a VPN. On top of that, it is recommended to get a hardware wallet like Ledger or Trezor. This will keep you offline and limit the chances of cyberattacks on your crypto wallet. Another thing is to record your 12-word seed phrase while setting up the wallet. If you lose this phrase, you might lose everything from the wallet. It is better to write it down on paper and store it someplace safe. Rather than having a single copy, you should store it in multiple places. Other than that, you can create a digital replica of it and keep it among plenty of images so that only you know where to find it.
Step 3 – Selecting a Marketplace
Now, you are ready with digital art that you wish to mint into NFT and a crypto wallet. The next step is to select an NFT marketplace to market your NFT and sell it. There are various NFT marketplaces to choose from. Some of these marketplaces or NFT Minting platforms cover all the NFTs, such as OpenSea. On the contrary, some of them are pretty specialized—for instance, Myth.Market is an NFT platform that mainly focuses only on trading cards. Similarly, SuperRare is very selective and only accepts certain creators after going through their artist profiles. Some of the widely used NFT platforms are:
OpenSeaSuperRareMyth MarketEnjinBakerySwap
It is highly recommended to go through the policies of all the NFT marketplaces. This will make you aware of everything you need to keep in mind before selling your NFT. You can select any NFT marketplace based on your preferences and set it up. We will discuss these NFT minting platforms later on in this article. Right now, we will continue with the NFT creation and minting process. For instance, we are going to use OpenSea. First of all, you need to authenticate your MetaMask wallet with OpenSea. As you authenticate the wallet, you will be able to mint your NFT.
Step 4 – Minting your NFT
Now is the time to mint your NFT. First, you need to create a collection in OpenSea with an appropriate name. You can add as many digital arts as you want to this collection. This is like creating a category to mint NFTs in different categories and sell them on the marketplace. You need to click on Add items for uploading your digital art. Later on, give it a proper name and an appropriate description. You can also add an external link for your NFT so that the buyers can get more info about it through the link. You can set it as unlockable content to reveal the item only to the owner. On top of that, you can also set it as explicit or sensitive content to avoid safe search users from seeing it in the marketplace. Once you are done with that, you have to add it to your collection. While creating your NFT, you should freeze the metadata not to be changed. This will require some Ether from your wallet. So, you have to pay these fees for locking and selling your NFT. Lastly, you have to go through a few more options, and you are done. You can finally create your NFT.
Step 5 – Selling your NFT
So, the entire NFT creation process is completed. Now, you need to get along with the marketing and selling process. In order to list your NFT on the open market, you need to pay some more fees. This is again where your crypto wallet comes in handy. After going through this process, you can click on the sell button and set proper pricing for your NFT. Now, your NFT will be visible to all the users on the marketplace. They can directly purchase it from you through the platform if they find it interesting. Well, this is not all. You still need to work a lot towards marketing your NFT in order to get potential buyers. The best way to market your NFT is to use Facebook and Twitter ads. With these, you can target the right people on social media and get better results. As the NFT gets famous, you will see an increment in its price. If you have set it up for an auction and marketed it right, you will notice the prices booming because of its popularity and demand in the market. This is the way people sell their NFTs for millions of dollars in the market. If you are thinking that you can become an overnight millionaire by selling NFTs, then that is not going to be the case. You need to work hard on its marketing, and then only you can think about high rewards. Let’s now look at the top NFT Minting Platforms.
OpenSea
OpenSea is the largest NFT marketplace in the entire internet world. It offers a huge variety of NFTs that includes domain names, art, trading cards, collectibles, virtual worlds, and much more. On OpenSea, you can buy, sell, and explore various NFTs. Most new projects in the NFTs world are first listed on OpenSea to get enhanced exposure in the blockchain world. You can build your own NFT on OpenSea with its minting tool if you are a creator. There is no need for any coding on OpenSea for making NFTs. You can use different ways to sell NFTs on OpenSea, like selling them for a fixed price, arranging an auction, or even creating a declining price listing. OpenSea allows you to purchase NFTs with the help of various cryptocurrencies like ETH and DAI.
SuperRare
SuperRare is another NFT marketplace that allows users to buy and sell unique digital assets. Every artwork displayed on the platform is prepared by an artist and tokenized as an NFT that can be owned and traded. All the NFTs on SuperRare are tracked by blockchain, and they are completely secured with cryptography. All the transactions on SuperRare are performed with Ether, which is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum platform. Currently, there are only a few artists associated with SuperRare. You can become a part of this community by submitting a form and seeing if you get selected. You can find all the types of digital assets on SuperRare like images, art, music, video, and everything that is digital.
Enjin
Enjin Marketplace is an official one for all the Enjin-based NFTs. You can buy, sell, and trade all the Enjin-based blockchain assets on this platform. People use Enjin wallets for listing and purchasing different gaming collectibles and digital items. You can find everything from branded crypto-collectibles and digital artwork to gaming and fashion items of the digital world. You can explore the marketplace to find some of the rarest NFTs and collect or trade them. Enjin also allows you to list any NFT that you have gained or crafted in blockchain games. So, it works on the concept of Play, Explore, and Trade. Enjin marketplace is more focused on gaming assets, but you can find all the other types of digital items also like sports collectibles, music tracks, digital artwork, and more. Enjin functions with the help of two coins, namely EFI and ENJ. Both the coins serve different purposes and help the ecosystem function smoothly.
BakerySwap
BakerySwap is a decentralized exchange on Binance Smart Chain that uses its native crypto token BAKE. It is not only an NFT marketplace, but BakerySwap also offers several other decentralized finances (DeFi) services. On BakerySway, you can find various NFTs like in-game items, digital art, memes, and much more to explore. On top of that, you can also create and mint your own NFT on BakerySwap with a simple process. The simplified process of NFT selling is the main reason behind its immense popularity. BakerySwap features all the trending NFT collections along with famous artists too. So, you can keep track of your favorite artist and see their new NFTs as and when they launch. These are some of the most popular and highly preferred NFT marketplaces. You can try out these platforms to see which one suits your needs for buying, selling, and trading NFTs.
Conclusion
If you are thinking about entering the NFT market and creating your first NFT, then this guide will be the perfect one, to begin with. You will find everything that you need in this article. Still, it is advised to perform thorough research for the same not to get stuck with anything. You can go through the Challenges and Risks associated with NFTs.Here is the complete guide to Minting and listing your first NFT. You may like to watch the video version of this article below. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel for more video tutorials.
