As more and more creators launch NFTs, the question becomes how to do so affordably and in a way that makes sense for your business.
While NFTs can bring a new and much-needed revenue stream, getting a marketplace up and running is a bit more complicated than launching a website.
Instead, a marketplace requires a website that integrates with the blockchain.
And setting up that kind of integration isn’t nearly as push-button as creating a WordPress blog or Shopify store.
So, in today’s post, we’ll discuss how to build a cost-effective NFT marketplace.
Build a Cost-Effective Marketplace Basics: Understand Your Goals
Firstly, when it comes to learning how to build a cost-effective NFT marketplace, you need to clearly define and understand your overarching goals.
Similar to building a website, the sky’s the limit when it comes to how elaborate you want your marketplace to be.
With an unlimited budget, one could easily spend six figures creating a highly customized marketplace.
That said, the overwhelming majority of creators are likely on limited budgets. Further, you need to run realistic estimates regarding what kind of revenue NFTs can add to your business before deciding how much you plan to invest in building a marketplace.
Set Expectations
For obvious reasons, spending $10,000 on a marketplace doesn’t make sense if you only expect NFTs to make you an extra $5,000 per year.
On the flip side, if you already have a large audience- or understand online marketing on a deep level – your NFTs could drive tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in new revenue.
In that situation, spending a bit more to get advanced functionality and a design that matches your branding may make sense.
White Label or Custom?
Once you’ve decided on a budget, the next question you’ll need to ask is whether you should pursue a white-label solution or have your marketplace custom developed.
There are pros and cons to both.
As you may or may not know, most websites on the Internet are built on white-label solutions like WordPress and Shopify.
People don’t refer to them as “white-label” because they’re standalone services. But at the end of the day, these companies offer plug n’ play solutions that are fully functional right out of the box.
And when it comes to your moment to build a cost-effective NFT marketplace, the same principle applies.
The Pros and Cons of White-Label Solutions
In short, white-label solutions allow for rapid deployment at a very low cost (given that the solution is templated and pre-configured).
The downside is that it will limit your ability to customize things to the parameters and configurations included in the service because you’re using a templated and pre-configured solution.
In most cases, creators are more than happy to make that trade-off (given custom development services can cost $10,000 or more).
Consider Your Branding Requirements
However, if keeping your marketplace “on-brand” requires customization impossible with a white-label solution, you may have no choice but to have your marketplace custom developed.
Further, custom development does not necessarily mean building from scratch.
The Hybrid Option
Instead, a white-label solution can be custom configured beyond what’s included in the platform’s normal back-end configurations.
And because customizing a white-label solution doesn’t require building from the ground up, it is likely to be more affordable than having your entire marketplace custom coded.
Build a Cost-Effective NFT Marketplace with Excopia
As is the case with most business expenses, creators need to run a Cost Benefit Analysis to determine how much capital they should invest into an NFT marketplace.
Further, money is not the only consideration. As anyone who’s tried to build their own website knows, tinkering with the back-end of a website can be a massive time suck.
Because of that, you’ll want to be careful about choosing the most inexpensive option, as “cheap” solutions usually require the largest time investment.
And if you’re looking for a white-label provider that offers affordable solutions and custom development services, we are here to help.
From choosing which blockchain you want to launch on to accepting crypto and traditional payment methods, we offer everything you need to build a cost-effective NFT marketplace and make sales.
For more information, please reach out to our team of experts at Excopia today.