How to sell an NFT for a pretty penny?

If you’re reading this article, you’ve most likely already developed an interest in NFTs. This time around, we’ll walk you through the process of becoming an NFT creator.

Creating and selling NFTs doesn’t have to be complicated, so this handy guide will serve to make things a bit easier.

Narrow your ideas down

When thinking about the endless possibilities present in the NFT world, it’s easy to get carried away with creative project ideas. The best way to start, however, is to have a rough idea about what type of NFTs you’re going to create.

As you already know, anything can become an NFT: digital art, music, collectibles, even files, you name it!

Further research into current and future trends can prove to be useful in choosing a style.

NFT buyers are not exactly fixated on the artistic merit of a piece. It’s easier to simply view this pattern through the same lens as modern minimalist art. Inherent artistic quality does not equal monetary worth.

Choosing a category is crucial to getting started. Think of your greatest artistic strength and develop an idea for a full collection, aiming at selling a single piece of art won’t cut it. Collections tend to be thematic, yet variable in individual detail. Good examples of this concept are structurally basic drawings of a single object, with each NFT art piece having differing characteristics or attributes, which can also assist in determining the rarity of each piece, resulting in keeping the audience engaged.

Read more: Why are some NFTs worth millions?

Let’s get engaged!

Keeping your fans and prospects excited and engaged is crucial to starting your NFT journey on the right foot.

Be sure to do proper research on the platforms you’re going to use and how their algorithms work. Most platforms seem to currently be occupied by the big players, but a quick once-over reveals seemingly smaller creators still getting their fair share of attention.

When it comes to social media, that’s where the real sale happens. Posting regularly, with quality captions and coordinated aesthetics can be a game-changer for a newcomer to the NFT world. Be sure to show your best works and highlight upcoming collections and drops with small, but exciting teasers.

NFTs are wildly popular among tech-savvy audiences. Targeting the right demographic doesn’t have to be complicated. Most of the NFT enthusiasts are between the ages of 18 and 34, making them receptive to internet humor, such as memes and cultural references of the past 20 to 30 years. This makes it easy to promote your art in a much more casual environment than what one would find in a traditional setting such as art galas or galleries.

Thinking long term: Utility

In the NFT world, one concept that is becoming increasingly crucial is utility. This refers to an NFT having an inherent function.

At times, it’s hard to pin this down, but as we move into a new phase of NFTs becoming mainstays of modern, decentralized finance, we see NFTs become functional and made with purpose.

Instead of going the traditional route of creating art, for example, a creator can instead opt to create event tickets and mint them as NFTs. This gives not only added value to a ticket in any price range but also uniqueness and worth, unlike a traditional ticket, the stub of which will most likely end up in the trash. This utility-granting is part of the creator’s choice if they wish for their work to become more than just a collectible.

While NFTs are an up-and-coming asset, it’s important to think sustainably and long-term, allowing your work to traverse trends and market conditions, ensuring the work’s endurance and hopefully, achieving mainstay status across platforms.

Original is always iconic.

The entirety of the NFT universe is built around the concept of creators having an opportunity to showcase and auction their work in an environment that essentially eliminates creative plagiarism. However, this does not mean that there isn’t room for copycat work.

Looking at NFT trends at the surface level reveals certain styles as the titans of the industry, but it isn’t always the rule.

With the right promotion and strategy, any collection can become iconic and worthy of the NFT royalty status. In truth though, there is no throne. The very nature of a decentralized marketplace allows for endless creativity and profitability across the spectrums that stretch beyond the top 10’s and 100’s of the field.

Do your best to come up with consistent, one-of-a-kind ideas that reflect both you and your promotional vision, as this formula seems to function best for most creators who have found success in the NFT world. On that note, sometimes, simpler is better!

Promotion: a steady path to success!

Any product, digital or physical, needs promotion and advertising. Even household brands and mainstay products need constant promotion to stay relevant and popular among consumers.

Good promotional tools can provide an opportunity to not only sell a product but also eclipse the competition. We’ll break it all down for you so you can start selling your NFTs with ease.

Social media has cemented itself as the primary method of advertising for most products and creators. Platforms such as Instagram and Facebook put fantastic tools at your disposal and provide an audience in the millions if you target your crowd right. Be sure to pay attention to who you’re targeting: the right age groups, overall demographics, and keywords can make or break your attempt at shining the spotlight onto your work. Refrain from spamming your audience, as that can drive potential buyers away. If you’ve done your advertising right, most of your audience is already interested in your product and now the main challenge is to simply keep their engagement with a steady stream of content.

Guerilla campaigns, on the other hand, serve to simply wow the audience and strike unexpectedly, instead of taking the usual route of planned and strategic advertising. Taking a great example from world-famous artist Banksy, one can think in unconventional terms while spending significantly less on budget, without compromising on impact. NFT creators are already an unconventional bunch, so risks are always welcome. Experiment with thinking out of the box to find the perfect approach for promoting your piece of art.

Seeking influence within your space is crucial; people who spend time with those smarter than them, eventually become smarter themselves. Being present on the scene is not only about showcasing work in your specific niche, but also about finding connections and proposing/participating in collaborations, preferably with artists/creators with a bigger audience reach than your own. Reaching out is easy since much like yourself, all NFT creators have a plethora of online presence and the entirety of the NFT marketplace is built on artistic freedom and flexibility. To boot, once your art has been exposed to the audiences of your fellow well-established artists, your own organic following will grow. NFT buyers aren’t usually fixated on buying only from one creator; they are willing to expand their horizons if they see work that has both value and utility.

How to mint your work?

The NFTs you mint will be tied directly to your wallet which means that you’re in control, and you’ll hold and manage your funds directly. Before you get started, you’ll need to make sure you have ETH (the cryptocurrency used for all transactions on Ethereum) and a wallet set up. Check out our guide if you need help setting it up.

Mint passes and Whitelists. What’s the difference?

Mint Pass is an annual membership designed for the digital nomad in order to help you prevail in the gas war. It’s a ruffle-based one-time pass that enables you to mint your artwork.

In the NFT world, whitelisting typically means that a crypto wallet address, (i.e. a public ETH address), is pre-approved for the minting of NFTs on specified dates/times (usually a date/time window).

Whitelisting allows NFT projects to reward early supporters with guaranteed slots for them to mint an NFT (or multiple NFTs depending on the whitelisting/project rules).

To Reveal or Not to Reveal?

You can also hold a reveal prior to launch to let people know what they will be buying. However, this is risky. Several projects, including The Iconics and Raccoon Secret Society, used a reveal to trap their buyers into rug pulls. In some cases, like the MekaVerse, the final artworks turned out to be disappointing or too similar. Although it creates a buzz, these days, people are increasingly becoming wary of reveals.

To sell your NFT art, make sure to choose the right Marketplace

OpenSea
Catalog
Async Music
OneOf
SuperRare
Foundation
Nifty Gateway
Rarible

How to sell your NFT on a marketplace: Step by Step

Once you create your NFT, it will show up on your profile. If you are using Rarible, you have the option to mint it while creating the NFT itself. Otherwise, here are the steps to sell your NFT art and collectibles on OpenSea (the process slightly varies from marketplace to marketplace):

Choose the NFT you want to sell from your Profile and click “Sell” on the top right.
On the listing page that opens up, you can select the type of sale and price. You can either sell it for a fixed price or set up an auction. You can also reserve it for a particular buyer.
Select the duration of the sale.
If this is your first sale on the platform, you have to initialize your wallet.
Confirm your sale and tada! Your first NFT is up for sale!