How to Mint an NFT

How to Mint an NFT: A Step-by-Step Guide

So, you want to take that digital asset of yours and turn it into an NFT huh? You’re not alone. Many creators are now looking at creating NFTs out of their digital art. To do so, they need to work out how to mint an NFT, something that many can find confusing. Having to work out how to mint NFT can sadly prevent many creators from getting onto NFT markets and sharing their awesome digital artwork.

All this lost potential saddens us, and we want to do something about it. So, we’ve provided a step-by-step guide on how to mint NFTs for the artist and digital entrepreneur alike.

What is NFT minting?

Minting an NFT is taking digital files and transforming them into digital information stored within a blockchain. Essentially, it’s making a digital file a blockchain based asset ready for a smart contract to be executed against. This makes it officially ready for use in purchase and sale on the online marketplace.

What can I mint?

A digital asset can mean all kinds of data created electronically by computers and software. It can be pictures, articles, videos, audio files and more. All such digital assets can be incorporated into blockchains, typically the Ethereum blockchain, and converted into NFTs through this process called minting. It’s essentially a digital ledger with no centralized storage or deletion of assets that are added there.

Is it hard to mint an NFT?

The minting process for NFTs can seem overwhelming and difficult. Surprising to many, the process to mint NFTs is actually quite simple. It requires some basic know how and a little digital labor to get an NFT collection minted and in front of potential buyers.

What would be harder is avoiding minting NFTs and missing the chance to be an early adopter of the technology. Catching up to the crypto world is always going to be more difficult, so don’t get left in the dust.

Got a digital file?

To create your first NFT collection, you’ll need a digital asset. You might have a digital art portfolio ready to go or you might need to photograph your physical artworks and turn them into digital art. Many content producers will already have digital versions of their creations if they are audio files or videos. Video game developers will definitely fall into this category of creators with pre mint NFTs ready to go. Whatever the digital data is that you’re wanting to store on the blockchain, it needs to be just that… digital.

How to mint an NFT

To create NFTs there is a simple NFT minting recipe to follow. Minting NFT on the marketplace requires a few steps such as browsing an NFT marketplace, creating a profile on an NFT marketplace, setting up a digital wallet, funding it, and finally minting NFTs. Let’s get into the nitty gritty of it.

Choose from a wide range of NFT marketplaces and create a profile

Choose a platform

First thing’s first, you need to browse for a marketplace. There are many NFT marketplaces to choose from for your first NFT. You’ll want to consider a few things in your search though. Creating NFTs for free can be done but many popular platforms charge what’s called gas fees. These are fees involved in creating NFTs and could be considered the administration costs of listing your non fungible tokens.

Gas fees can range in cost and can often get a little pricey. There are some free minting services offered out there, but free minting an NFT might not give the best quality experience for NFT creators. A popular platform to consider is the OpenSea marketplace. This could be a good place to start and will be our running example here.

Create a profile on an NFT marketplace

Alright, you’ve selected a platform to list your digital item on. Now, before you get minting, you’ll need to create a profile. This isn’t too difficult. On OpenSea, simply hop on and click on ‘sign up’ or ‘create a profile’. Once you’ve created a profile, you’ll be able to list an NFT on OpenSea. But first, you need to create and link a wallet.

Create and link a wallet

Before listing an NFT on OpenSea, you have to open a crypto wallet which will connect to your profile on the NFT platform. To create a wallet, head to site MetaMask, which is OpenSea’s preferred wallet host. Once you’re on the site, it’s pretty straightforward to create a crypto wallet that you can use to store Ethereum based tokens.

Why do I need a wallet?

Your crypto wallet is what you’ll get paid into after selling your digital art. It’s also how you’ll pay any service fee for minting your NFT. You can get a Chrome extension for MetaMask that will allow you to easily manage your wallet in the same browser. To link your wallet, follow the prompts on your OpenSea profile.

Make sure your wallet is funded

To be able to pay gas fees and get NFT minting, you’ll need to buy Ethereum tokens. This is fairly simple. Get onto a crypto site such as CoinBase, and purchase some Ethereum. To send it to your MetaMask wallet, you simply need to hit ‘transfer’ and follow the prompts. It will require you to flick between MetaMask and CoinBase to copy and paste some simple information. Now you’ll be ready to pay any gas fee that comes your way.

Mint your digital assets and list them for sale

No lazy minting

Now that you’ve got a crypto wallet and can cover gas fees, you can begin to mint NFTs. Now, no lazy minting. What do we mean by lazy minting? We mean you need to get it right from the get-go. Lazy minting looks like not having your digital art downloaded at a high quality, or not having a considered name for your collection.

Get it right from the start

Trust us, selling NFTs will be a lot easier if you get it right from the beginning. So, if you’re wanting the process to be easier all the way up to that final selling price, ensure you have high quality digital items to list as NFT and that you’ve considered your crypto collections. Also ensure your image source if your NFTs aren’t your own creations. If your image source clearly states copyright restrictions, back away.

Let’s get minting

To get minting, simply get onto your profile on OpenSea and click ‘My Collection’. Then, click ‘create’ to mint NFT collections. We recommend creating an NFT collection and not simply listing one NFT. This is because collections tend to perform better. Many buyers are inspired to buy an NFT because it’s part of a collection. They may not want to sell NFTs they purchase, but instead create collections of their own if they like the style of what you’re offering. This will also keep them coming back for more!

Congrats, you’ve started NFT minting!

Give yourself a big pat on the back. You now know how to mint NFTs and get em onto an interplanetary file system such as the Ethereum blockchain. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? Uniquely publishing your digital tokens on the blockchain to make them purchasable opens the door to your first purchase transaction. You’ve entered a new world of being able to sell digital art to an ever-growing audience! Once you make your first sale, the crypto paid will be automatically transferred into your crypto wallet, minus any fees for the transaction services.

How to get your minted NFTs out there

Many individuals might consider listing NFTs for free to build an audience and gain traction. Slowly, they begin increasing the fixed price for their NFTs and can even eventually put them up for auction when they feel people might want to fight for them. Offering NFTs for free isn’t a bad place to start, but don’t go throwing your whole collection up for free.

Use other platforms

Don’t rely on your chosen NFT marketplace to get your digital assets out there. You can promote your digital asset through a range of other avenues, such as on social media. There are massive NFT markets on social media that go untapped. Share your first NFT on Instagram or Facebook or get TikToking!

Mooning is here to level things up

If you want to potentially skip the listing NFTs for free step and gain serious traction fast, Mooning is here to help. We are a dedicated team who get behind you to see your NFT reach new heights! We’re seriously passionate about the NFT world and the awesome creations being shared in it. We want to see more and more NFTs out there, and to contribute to and witness their success! Even if you’ve already minted NFTs, we can help you get onto a secondary market and achieve awesome further growth.

So, pay us a visit at mooning.com and bring your NFT with you, or call us on 1300 818 435.