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Discord is home to many servers, each of them unique. And yours is no different.

Your community and members will all have individual needs, so we’ve put together some top tips on making sure you build and organize your server to suit your mission and make it a welcoming, fun, and safe space for your members.

Choosing Your Channels

One of the best ways to build a successful server is to make sure that your group conversations and topics into separate, easy-to-find channels.

Why is this so useful? Because it stops new members from landing in your server and getting overwhelmed by a hundred busy channels. At the same time, it stops your server from becoming a single channel with six different topics all being talked about at once. 

To keep things accessible and easy, it’s a good idea to set up a few key channel categories and organize your core channels into things like announcements and FAQs. This will help new members easily navigate your server and onboard into your community.

Categorizing Your Channels

A good rule of thumb for organizing your channels is: keep the important channels at the top, have your main chat channels in the middle and then have your least important, off-topic ones towards the bottom. We’ve found that four to five channels per category work best! 

Here’s a good example of a basic setup! 

Category: WELCOME

  • Rules or Guidelines
  • Role or Server Directory
  • Announcements
  • Introductions

Category: GENERAL

  • General Chat
  • On-Topic Channels

Category: OFF-TOPIC

  • Off-Topic Channels for Other Interests
  • Spaces for Members to Play or Interact
  • Chats for Memes or Community Artwork
  • Bot Commands

Channel overload? If you find yourself with many channels you absolutely need, you may want to introduce role-locked channels. These channels make sure that only people with certain roles have access, keeping relevant information accessible to the right people!

Naming Your Channels

Alongside keeping things organized, your channel names are a great way to show off your server’s personality.

For example, you might want to name your #general channel #cantina if you’re a sci-fi community. Or a #Ennorath if you’re a fantasy community!

You can also use non-standard characters (like emojis) to customize your channel names and make them look pretty, but don’t forget channel names will be cut off at the 25-character mark.

Top Tip: Empty channels can be daunting for new members, so use channel topics to explain the channel and kick off the conversation with a first message to get the chat going.

Customizing Your Server

On top of choosing your server icon and name, there are many other ways you can customize your server. This way, your members feel like they’ve stepped into a world made just for them!

Designating Roles

Roles aren’t just about functionality; they also impact how your server feels and can help you add touches of character and personality.

Sure, roles will allow managers to distinguish members from each other with features like role icons, colors, and permissions, but they’ll also help your users get more involved with your theme.

We love it when servers tailor their role colors and names, so they match the server theme or are references to an inside joke their community has. You may also want to give your Nitro Boosters a unique role for them to stick out or reward them as top fans!

Setting Up Emoji and Stickers

Emoji and stickers are another great way for your members to express themselves and convey your community message in and out of your server. 

While Discord has a lot of its own emoji as well as 300 stickers, you can add your own unique emoji that match your server’s subject or theme. You can also involve your community to come up with suggestions or design their own. Your Nitro users will be able to use these in their other servers too! 

Perks for Boosted servers 

If your server is Boosted, you’ll have access to some additional customizable perks like...

  • Customize your Server Banner: The image displayed at the top of the channel list is the Server Banner Background. Customizing this makes your community feel unique and helps users identify which server they’re visiting at a glance.‍
  • Invite Splash: You’ll also be able to customize the image that appears when using an invite link in a web browser. This could be the first impression new members get, so try picking something that represents your community.‍
  • Vanity URL: A Vanity URL is the server invite link unique to your community.

As your community grows and becomes more established, it’s important to do little things – like creating roles or having some fun with your server names – that make your members feel like, “yeah, this is the place for me” every time they return.

With thanks to east for all their help in writing this article.

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