Tips for creating and growing a new Discord server

This guide is kept up-to-date as Discord and available resources change!

A basic server template is available here

Creating and Growing a Discord Server

Introduction

Hello! I'm jagrosh#4824! I'm writing this guide to try to help new server owners set up and grow their servers, which is a commonly-requested topic. It's very easy to go about this the wrong way, so it's best to be prepared and make smart decisions so that your community can flourish!

Background

You might be wondering: why am I qualified to write this guide? Excellent question! Well, I've created several successful Discord servers, including the Monster Hunter Gathering Hall (120,000+ members, game community), a bot support server (7,000+ members), and two bot community servers (100,000+ members and 50,000+ members). I also help moderate several large servers, and I am a Discord partner. Finally, I am very familiar with the technical aspects of Discord, which are useful for setting up servers and permissions.

Part 1: Should I make a server?

This is an important question. Just because you can make a server doesn't mean you should. When you're making your server, make sure to ask yourself these questions:

Is this something that you are passionate about? Don't make a server just for the sake of making one. You should be highly interested in the topic and want to improve the community for that topic. You should also be knowledgible about the topic and able to help newcomers and experienced members alike.

Don't make a server just for the sake of making one. You should be highly interested in the topic and want to improve the community for that topic. You should also be knowledgible about the topic and able to help newcomers and experienced members alike. Does this server have one specific topic? If your server is a "generic gaming server" or "generic public server" or "random server" or "memes" or any variation, then it is not going to grow. Frankly, no one is interested in joining a server that doesn't have a defined topic. If you take a look at the biggest and most-popular servers on Discord, they all have a specific topic, like "Overwatch" or "World of Warcraft Druids" or "Discord API". If you want your server to become popular, you must pick a specific topic.

If your server is a "generic gaming server" or "generic public server" or "random server" or "memes" or any variation, then it is not going to grow. Frankly, no one is interested in joining a server that doesn't have a defined topic. If you take a look at the biggest and most-popular servers on Discord, they all have a specific topic, like "Overwatch" or "World of Warcraft Druids" or "Discord API". If you want your server to become popular, you must pick a specific topic. Do any other servers for this topic exist? Once you've decided on a topic, you need to figure out if a server for that topic already exists. For example, don't make a server about "League of Legends," because one already exists. If a server for your topic already exists, you should join the existing server and contribute to the existing community instead of trying to create a new server for the exact same topic! However, it's possible that there doesn't exist a server for "League of Legends Demacia Lore," so that would be a perfectly-fine topic to create a server for. (If you don't know if a server already exists, see the "Resources" section at the bottom of this document)

Once you've decided on a topic, you need to figure out if a server for that topic already exists. For example, don't make a server about "League of Legends," because one already exists. However, it's possible that there doesn't exist a server for "League of Legends Demacia Lore," so that would be a perfectly-fine topic to create a server for. (If you don't know if a server already exists, see the "Resources" section at the bottom of this document) Does the topic benefit from having a Discord server? For some topics, there is no benefit to having a Discord server. Discord is great for real-time communication via text and voice. Make sure that the topic is one that can be discussed in these ways.

For some topics, there is no benefit to having a Discord server. Discord is great for real-time communication via text and voice. Make sure that the topic is one that can be discussed in these ways. Do you need to own the server? This is probably the most important question. Obviously, you're here because you want to set up a server, advertise it, and grow a community. The question is, would you be willing to give ownership and all permissions to someone else if it meant that the community would grow better? If you would not be willing to give ownership to improve the community, you need to stop reading this guide right now and delete the server. Servers aren't things to "show off" because they are popular; they are communities of real people that want to communicate, and you need to care more about that community than about who "owns" the server itself. This is something you must accept if you want to create a community: that if the community would do better without you, you need to be able to give it up to someone who will perform better.

If you've answered these questions according to the guidelines, you're ready to start setting up the server!

Part 2: Setting up the server

This section is still in-progress and should just be used as a basic guide. Click here for a basic template that you can use as a starting point!

Channels

The key to good channel structure is keeping important information easy to find, and categorizing everything as appropriate. An example of a structure for a "Minecraft Redstone" server might be:

⌵ Information # rules # announcements # contests ⌵ General # lobby # off-topic