How to grow a Discord server

Most servers do not have too few visitors. They have too many people leaving. Someone joins, sees twenty empty channels, and goes. Fix that first, and every new member you attract is worth more.

1. How do I make the first five minutes good?

• Fewer channels. Start with five or six. Add one only when a channel gets too busy.
• A welcome that says what to do. “Say hi in #chat and pick a role in #roles.”
• Something happening. A question of the day, a game night, a weekly event. People stay where other people are talking.
• Real people. Greet new members by name in their first hour.

An example. A server for people who draw has five channels: one for the welcome, one to chat, one to show a drawing, one to ask for feedback and one for events. Its welcome says: “Post one drawing and say hi in the chat.” A new member knows what to do in ten seconds. Now picture a server that opens on a long list of empty channels and a wall of rules. Nobody can tell where the people are, so nobody speaks first. To see your own server the way a newcomer does, ask a friend who has never been in it to join, and watch what they do first. Whatever confuses them is the thing to fix.

2. Who is my server for?

A server “for everyone” is for no one. “A server for people learning Japanese” is easy to describe, easy to recommend and easy to advertise. Read how to write a good server description.

Try this: finish the sentence “This server is for people who…” in ten words or fewer. “…are learning Japanese and want to practise every day” works. “…like games, anime, music and chatting” does not, because so many servers say the same thing. A narrow answer does not make your server smaller. It tells the right people that this is their place, and it gives your members a reason to invite a friend: “You are learning Japanese too. Come and join us.” Use the same sentence in three places: your welcome message, the start of your advert, and wherever else you share the server. A visitor who reads the same thing each time knows what they are joining.

3. How do I advertise a Discord server for free?

One free way is a bump bot. With OneBump you type /bump and your server’s advert is posted in 75% of the servers on OneBump, free, every 2 hours. Write a description that says who the server is for (50 to 500 characters), pick a category and up to 5 tags so similar servers see it first, and keep your bump channel visible.

• Bump on every cooldown. Missed bumps are the most common reason growth stops.
• Share the job. Give your most active members a “Bumper” role, and let OneBump remind them.
• Pick the right category and tags, so the people who see you are the ones who care. Read who sees my advert.
• Go where your people already are. A forum, a subreddit, the comments under a video. Post something useful, not just a link, and follow that place’s rules about advertising.

4. What should I measure?

Do not count joins. Count people who are still there a week later. If many join and few stay, improve step 1 before you advertise more. Read what your bump stats mean.

An example. Every Monday, write down how many members you have and how many of last week’s new members are still there. One week ten people join and eight are still there the next Monday: the server keeps people, so advertise more. Another week ten join and two stay: more adverts would only bring more people who leave, so go back to step 1 first. Watch who talks as well. A small server where many members write every day feels more alive than a big one where nobody does. And check that the advertising half is still happening: on the OneBump website, your server’s Overview shows how many bumps were sent and how many people sent them.

5. What should I not do?

An example. A server buys members to look busy. The counter goes up and the chat stays silent, because none of them chose to be there. A real visitor sees a big number beside an empty chat and trusts the server less, not more. “Join my server and I will join yours” ends the same way: each side gets a member who never opens the server again. A giveaway that asks people to join and then gives nothing away loses their trust for good. Slow growth with people who talk beats fast growth with people who do not. If you are not sure whether something is allowed, read Discord’s Community Guidelines before you do it.