If you aren’t active in entering the Web 3 space now, we don’t know what more we can do to convince you! The NFT world is a very exciting space for all types of artist to participate in and more and more are making passive income by getting active on Discord and Twitter and entering those spaces. 

NFTs function as “proof of ownership” over a digital item and they’ve become all the rage among art collectors and crypto traders in search of the latest, trendy set of JPEGs. All this to flex as their social media PFP (that’s a profile picture). And eventually, sell them at a good profit after holding them for a few months.

However, informing yourself on NFTs and truly jumping on the path to find success and profit via them is a different story. Here are some top tips on how to manifest a truly successful NFT project so that you can make some profit from your art. 

What type of NFT project does your art sit under?

To put it simply, if you own an NFT that has a low rarity score, the price of your NFT will rise in value.

Examples of famous NFT collections are:

• Mutant Ape Yacht Club(a collection of 20,000 Mutant Apes, released in 2021)
• CryptoPunks(collection of 10,000 Punks, released in 2017)
• Bored Ape Kennel Club (a collection of 10,000 Bored Apes, released in 2021)
• The SandBox(NFT based game for trading assets(3D), released in 2019)

As the artist, it’s up to you to decide whether you’ll launch a whole 10k NFT collection or a singular piece. ​​Before progressing with other steps in the process, naturally the foundational questions need to be answered first. These questions encompass the following;

• What blockchain network will you be using?(Ethereum, Polygon, Solana etc)
• Will your NFTs live on-chain or off-chain?
• Will you take royalties from resale of the NFTs?
• What is the maximum mint amount?
• Will you mint the NFTs, or will you allow the public to mint them?
• What are the built-in features such as randomness, rarity, and voting rights?
• Is there any additional utility built into your NFTs?

Generate your collection

First things first, what is generative art? The common process of creating generative art is by running a machine algorithm, no matter if it is created as an NFT or not. Minting a generative art NFT adds a level of uniqueness that could not have been reached before. This is achieved by including inputs to the piece of art such as wallet address, transaction ID, or gas price. Simply put, there will always exist only one NFT with these exact parameters. Even if another art piece would be created that looks very similar, the parameters included in the NFT piece of generative art would always be different, and so each piece is truly unique. 

Choose your NFT smart contract developer

Smart contracts are at the core of every NFT and it is crucial for the success of any project that its smart contract is secure and resilient. The next team member in your NFT project will be a blockchain developer that handles the smart contract. In general, a smart contract is a piece of code that runs on the Ethereum blockchain(or any other) and can be reached by anyone on the blockchain network. You can see this smart contract as an account that runs independently, performs transactions, and even has its own token balance.

On the Ethereum blockchain, the NFTs run under the ERC-721 standard which stands for a protocol designed to provide special NFT functionality. Here is a list of possible deliverers. The blockchain developer has to install, test, and eventually deploy the smart contract to Mainnet. 

• Minting
• Presale whitelist
• OpenSea/Rarible listing
• Gifting/Airdrops
• Custom minter/holder benefits
• IPFS immutable storage for NFTs and their traits
• Post-mint reveal
• Bot protection/security
• Wallet integration on your website for minting, pre-sale etc
• Contract optimised for low gas fees

Team up with a UX designer

The UX developer should design a prototype, choose brand colors, make mockups of user pages, and finalize your product’s design. Don’t overlook this step, as the user interface is what your users will see. Also, it fully depends on the functionality of the NFT project to decide what kind of developer is needed for this. For example, a website that allows minting your own art collection is different from a brand new NFT-marketplace.

Market your NFT

If you’re able to get a marketing team on board, we suggest doing so. If you’re a musician, ask your management and PR company, if you’re a graphic designer, ask your agency for a hand etc.

Building a strong and loyal community is very important before your NFT launch takes off, even during the period after the NFT drop took place. Among young internet users and online gamers, the Discord App is one of the favorite places to hang out. In short, Discord servers are organized into text and voice channels, which are usually dedicated to specific topics and can have different rules. In chat channels, users can post messages, upload files, and share images for others to see at any time.

​​Growing a large following and community is important and to do this by using Twitter, Telegram, TikTok or Instagram could help a lot with this. Given that, the world should know about this exciting new NFT launch!

Overall, a successful NFT project is created via building a community and this should be a top priority. If your NFT project manages to create a huge fan base before it drops, you’re creating a far larger chance that you’ll have a successful launch. In other words, there is no better project launch than a quick sell-out of the entire art collection.