How to Advertise a Game Server

The best game servers are those with many players. However, unless you are an influencer, adding people to your game server can be somewhat challenging. So, assuming your circle of friends is not that extensive or you are not an influencer, this article can be of great help to you.

Here is a guide for server owners on how to create and place advertisements that convert. When you are done reading, you will know how to advertise your game servers, which communities to target, and how to use all the advertisement resources available to you.

Before you even consider advertising your server, you must ensure that your high-quality hosting runs without any latency issues. Also, there should be no crashes while people enjoy every minute of playing games on your server.

So, here is how you advertise your server and attract new players.

Best Ways to Attract New Players and Advertise Game Servers

Invite Your Friends to Game Servers

There’s no need to spend anything from your advertisement budget. Inviting friends is the safest and fastest way to start a community.

You can even ask your friends to be moderators on your server. If they are committed to helping you, they can invite their friends as well. That way, just a few friends can bring many new users without spending ad money.

Social Media

Creating a profile on social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter is a good start when searching for more players on your server. Social media websites have the power to generate tons of free traffic. Just make sure that your posts don’t appear as spam and that your links work. Best of all – you can even post on social media sites from your computer, smartphone, or tablet.

Paid Advertisement

Google Adsense and Facebook Ads offer targeted advertisements. If you know your audience, you can pinpoint your ads to reach them at the right time of the day. These two advertisement channels can bring many new players to your servers. Here, you need to make sure that the posted content is appealing to your audience. Then, grab their attention and make them click on the link. When a paid advertisement is done right, it is only a matter of time before new players come in bulk to play on your servers.

Promote Your Private Server on Forums

Both unofficial and official forums present an opportunity for finding new friends and potential players. It is a free advertisement. There’s no need to pay anything, and you can post regularly. Of course, the stuff you post needs to be within the community guidelines and help to build a reputation.

Having a link on your profile to your servers is allowed on almost all unofficial and official forums. That’s how many people advertise your server type, games, service, and products for free.

Stream on Mixer and Twitch

Streaming on both Mixer and Twitch can help you create a great community. The community will watch you play, and you can easily scale that. This falls under the free advertisements section, as you don’t need to spend money to advertise. You can talk about your server or servers while you stream. As your community grows, so will your support among your followers, which will give your servers a chance.

It is in your interest to support one such community, even if that sometimes includes giveaways and promotions. Your followers will appreciate that while your user base increases and your servers harness the fruits of that.

Start a Blog

Blogging is one of the oldest forms of online advertisements that have the potential to attract tons of new users to your server. However, know that a blog is not just about advertising your server(s). It needs to be a medium to support your community, talk about your games, game mode stuff, server uptime, team fortress issues, and other things beneficial to your community.

Paid Banners on Popular Sites

There are quite a few specialized sites frequently visited by gamers that allow you to advertise their servers. The cost of marketing can vary from one website to another, the position of the banner, how long it will stay on the website, etc.

A paid banner on a popular site can bring a ton of traffic to your server. Many server owners use this method to advertise and attract new people.

Start a YouTube Channel

A Youtube channel is also a popular method to advertise your server. The trick is to post videos that gamers will find useful and keep posting great content from time to time. You need to post great videos, promote your server, and grow your audience as fast as possible.

You can even pay to advertise your Youtube channel on other platforms. Youtube has its own paid marketing service that allows promoting your YT channel or even your server directly.

Bottom Line

To successfully advertise your server, you need to try everything, test every method, and work with what works best for you. There isn’t such a thing as one mold to fit them all. For example, some people claim that they only advertise their server on social media, which works perfectly for them. Some swear in targeted marketing, others on YouTube, and so on.

The point is, don’t stop searching for that sweet spot that brings most gamers to your server. Once you find it, stick to it and advertise your server for as long as it works. Once the results are not as expected, turn toward another marketing method.

The key takeaway is that you use whatever works for you, and when it stops, move to the next best thing. Online marketing is a fluid type of thing, and you always need to stay on top of it.