NFTs (non-fungible tokens) gained remarkable attention in 2021, boosting, even more, the public knowledge of the crypto world.
NFTs are special non-copiable tokens representing an asset and their main feature is that they are not mutually interchangeable. In other words, they represent a unique and finite digital asset thanks to blockchain technology.
They became so popular lately because they function as “proof of ownership” over a digital item. Because of this, they have become trendy among art collectors and crypto traders who search for the latest, fashionable piece of digital art.
Although they are primarily designed to show ownership of digital assets, they are also used to tokenize real-world assets. This way they can incorporate them and their owners into a blockchain.
Even though NFTs are still mostly in the realm of art, they have also been incorporated into the industry of gaming and entertainment.
Profiting from the NFT world sounds like a good idea. However, in the first place, to profit from the NFTs you need to know how to assemble an NFT project team, and how the marketing will help in the overall success of your project.
What Do You Need to Build an NFT Project Team?
The success of an NFT project lies mainly in the composition of the teams and the skills, experience, and vision of its members. This is why it’s important to wisely choose your team when assembling one for an NFT project.
To get started, you will need to find teammates who can perform the following functions:
Developers
Developers will play a crucial role in an NFT project. They will be in charge of preparing a development hub for the project itself. Also, they will carry out the minting (better known as the launching of the product) of these NFTs.
Since NFTs operate with smart contracts, developers are essential for the NFT creation process. They have the technical expertise to produce these self-executing programming codes on Ethereum or any other smart contract-enabling platform.
Although a way to cut the costs needed to employ developers would be to make the NFT launch on secondary marketplaces like OpenSea. However, becoming part of a marketplace attested with artwork can be detrimental to your project’s success.
This is because it is when you face the most difficult aspect of NFT project development: standing out from the crowd.
Marketing Specialists
Marketing will help promote and raise awareness for your project, which is key in developing a profitable NFT marketing plan. One of the best advertising tools you can use is the power of the internet.
Community managers can promote your collection in the right channel and you could sell out your NFTs in the minting process. Having one or more community managers in some of these popular channels is a must:
- Reddit: with the hundreds of forums dedicated to crypto and NFTs and the possibility of creating one of your own, this platform is full of people interested in these technologies, therefore a good place to promote your NFT project.
- Discord: this social chatting site has become a major corner for crypto and NFTs. The multiple chatting functions make it effortless for projects to launch several channels to better communicate with their audience.
- Twitter: this is a gold mine for crypto and NFTs in general. Several NFT projects take advantage of Twitter’s strong community and reach to promote their projects. There is a great chance of success if you have a budding community on Twitter around your NFTs.
Also, the advertising is important but it is better if you do it on specialized ad networks that work with crypto networks instead of using social media or the internet in general.
NFT Artists
The artists will be the creators of the visual representation of the NFT. They will be in charge of sketching and drawing the pieces of art that later will be added to the blockchain.
However, there are hundreds of different artists out there. Specifically speaking, for an NFT project team you’ll need a digital artist or graphic designer.
For example, the most renowned person in this field is Mike Winklemann, better known as Beeple, who is the most successful artist in the NFT world. With pieces like “Everyday: the first 5000 days” sold for more than $69 million, he’s clearly an example of success.
Anyways, there are a lot of targets with different art preferences, so having a wide range of options it’s probably the best idea. You should look for an artist that can create fresh ideas in at least one of the following categories:
- Avatar NFTs: these are the most popular type of NFT you will find. They are characterizations of animals, humans, or pixel-based characters. Each NFT avatar comes with unique features and attributes and no other has the same, making them unrepeatable.
- Programmable NFTs: these are programmable artworks that usually have a shared visual style. However, they can be randomly customized by using preset instructions and accessories.
- 1/1 NFTs: these are NFT that have been issued as a single, unique edition. 1/1 are seen as more scarce and more valuable because only one person can own them at a time.
What Kind of Developers Do I Need for My NFT Project Team?
The developers are really important in an NFT project team. You’ll need a back-end developer for the smart contracts and a front-end developer for your project’s web page.
NFT Back-end Developer
Smart contracts are at the heart of every NFT and it is vital for the success of any project that its smart contract is safe and resilient.
The back-end developer has to install, test, and finally deploy the smart contract to the main net with one or more of these deliverables**:**
- 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, and pre-sale.
- Contract optimized for low gas fees.
The skillset of an NFT back-end developer should count with:
- Programming languages like JavaScript, Rust, and Solidity.
- NFT minting and smart contract security.
NFT Front-end Developer
A new NFT project is nothing without a representative website. Most NFT projects use this website to allow visitors to connect their portfolios and mint tokens. Other essential features include an introduction to the NFT, a roadmap, links to social networks, a FAQ section, and the team after the NFT project.
Remember that the launch of a new NFT website has some additional functionalities required and differs, therefore, from a regular HTML website. The list of these deliverables:
- Wallet Integration (Metamask, OpenMask, etc).
- Smart Contract Connectivity.
- NFT Minting.
- Public/Private Minting.
- Web3, OpenSea Integration.
- Dynamic Metadata URL (Reveal NFT).
The skillset of the NFT front-end developer should count with:
- Nodejs, PHP, Solidity.
- JSON, HTML5, JavaScript.
- ReactJS or Angular.
What Is a Smart Contract and Why Is It Important?
Smart contracts are segments of code that run on the Ethereum blockchain (or any other) and can be reached by anyone in the blockchain network.
NFTs are powered by smart contracts that manage transferability and verify ownership. In the Ethereum blockchain, NFTs run under the ERC-721 standard, which represents a protocol designed to provide special NFT functionality.
You can see this smart contract as an account that runs unassisted, performs transactions, and even has its own token balance.
Therefore, smart contracts are really important because of their role. They help to solve the problem of mistrust between parties and business associates. Smart contracts also have a number of benefits for a wide range of industries, as they reduce unnecessary costs and time expenditure while improving transparency.
How Do I advertise my NFT project?
After all the process of creating and preparing your NFT project, you’ll need your marketing team skills. They’ll have to promote your NFTs on all the possible channels and share their reveal date.
In addition, you could optimize your NFT webpage with some SEO, which you can hire from a marketing agency to work together with your team.
Finally, you could search for specialized NFT marketing agencies, which will offer comprehensive consulting and contract packets that fit your needs.
