How To Make A Social Networking Website Like Facebook For Almost FREE! Within 1 Hour [4 Easy Steps]

You can able make this type of website showed in the screenshot below
No skill required because of today’s advanced easy web applications.

and social network app like this screenshot below.

Do you want to create a social networking website like Facebook? or want to build a social media site? but you don’t know where to start or no coding knowledge? It is easier than you think..! You don’t need to learn programming or anything extra. Just follow the below steps. You can create your own social networking websites like Facebook for your college or organization or public or any type you want. Today we have advanced software & tools, everything made easy. You can customize settings within the social website as your imagination to change the functions or anything. Just a few clicks are enough to do everything you want..! Even you can build a social website that makes money fast by using Google Adsense or any sponsor ad or games or subscription or any other proven online earning methods. You don’t need to learn Web programming like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP etc. You can easily make money from your website. There are many people already making enough money, but it depends on how do you make your website popular. Creating a website is easy but marketing is difficult.

You can also see my real-life story of how I became a big fan of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg & I wanted to create something like Facebook. I launched a social website on my college publicly at the age of 19 just because Zuckerberg also launched at the age of 19..!! exactly I followed how Mark did when he launched If you are interested in my life story, See –How I Created a Social Network Website & Made A Profit In 26 Days.

This is my news – appeared on Deccan Herald.

(I have 2 names. Niranjan Bhat is my birth name & Jack Cox is my pen name. In the newspaper, my birth name is taken, because that is my registered name in the college.)

But that social website is not live now. I created social websites using many techniques, finally found this method is the best

There are several methods to create a social website. But most of the methods are old, difficult & outdated. Below I used the latest & the easiest method.

There are many web applications and software like WordPress-BuddyPress, Peepso Plugin, Ning, Socialgo, Kickapps, SocialEngines and so many tools. But Here I am going to guide you the best method, in this method you get all social network website ready-made web functions available in a single dashboard..!

Yes. All Facebook features from users profile to chat to groups to ads to 200+ features! You may get surpriseds!

You can also start to monetize to generate revenue. You can get Google Adsense, buy/sell marketplace withing the social website, subscriptions,  ads, etc. You can make money, but you need good traffic.

First You need to create a website, then you can easily convert your entire social network website into Android and IOS app in a single click within a few minutes.

So Now create a Facebook like website.

Just follow the 4 steps below.

Step -1:

1. Create An Account On Membership Site Configured Hosting

I researched a lot of web hosting that should have the capacity to hold many concurrent users on the website without crashing the site. Bluehost.com hosting is more stable even from its starting plans. Bluehost is the best hosting for social networking websites.

Visit Bluehost & Sign Up

Go to Bluehost
(Some people recommend SiteGround. But don’t choose other web hostings than Bluehost. Because most of the hosting companies give you a lot of storage & they say unlimited visitors capacity, But it is not true. They limit RAM, CPU, etc or they slow down the site. Their hosting doesn’t have the capacity to hold more concurrent users than the Bluehost.  In 2020, Bluehost is the best hosting with great support.)

Once you clicked the above Bluehost link, You will see this page.

Next click “hosting” menu, then click “shared hosting”. Choose the Basic plan. In the beginning, the $3.95 plan is enough

Don’t buy the costly plan, Because if your site gets millions of traffic, then you can upgrade later or transfer to any other hosting. There are many different plans. The basic plan is enough for your social networking site.

If you assume, your website gets less than 50,000 visits per month, then order the basic plan.  If you assume you get high traffic suddenly, then I recommend $6.95 Choice plan even your website gets fewer visitors per month. If you get more or fewer visitors, you can upgrade or downgrade the plan at any time.

Once you clicked Order, you will see to enter your domain.

Here I wanted to create a social network website for USA photographers. So I bought www.usaphotographers.club

The domain is your website name or URL address. Create your website name. Type any name you want to give your website. You are creating a social networking website, right? so I think it is better to choose .club domain extension instead of .com, .net, .org etc. The .com is so boring and also difficult to get the name you want. Because it is popular and may someone already registered the domain you wanted with .com. You can give names like www.badboys.club, www.NewYorkUniversity.co, facebookhookers.site, www.usaphotographers.club etc.

Usually, the domain name costs $10- $15.  But Bluehost offers a domain for free.

Different domain name costs vary a little bit. For .com $15. But .academy like domain little bit costlier than others.

If you want .com domain only, then try with different words like photographersnetwork.com etc. But that domain name was not available.

Try different ones. You can change the domain if you want. The Important thing is you have to get started.

I added “theusaphotographers.com”. That domain name was available. So I continued with that one.

Just enter the details. Give your email properly, because all information & receipt will send to that email after you paid.  Click submit.

Click “Submit“. It takes some time. Once your transaction is completed, you will see “Your purchase was a success” message.

Click “Create Account“. Now Create an account tab show you with your chosen domain. Choose a strong password with 8 or more characters that included at least one Letter of lower & uppercase, number, and special character.

Once you clicked  “Create Account”  You see login page. Just enter your domain name and password that you set just now while you creating your account.

Now Let’s create a website tab appears. Just enter your domain name & tagline. Click continue.

Now you see “Tell us a bit about you” tab. Just check randomly. It doesn’t matter what you check.

Continue. then you see templates. Just go to at the end of the page and click Skip.

Now you see your hosting dashboard.

Step -2:

2. Install Any Social Networking Website Software From Softaculaous

Go to -> Advanced menu that you can see on the bottom left side. Then scroll down and find Softaculous

click Softaculous, Then you see lots of web applications.

Look at the left menu. Click Social Networking Tab & click “Open Source Social Network”

Under the social networking menu, you will see Dolphin, Oxwall, pH/CMS, Jcow, Elgg, Open source social network and more. “Open source social network” is completely free forever. Dolphin is a premium software and gives you a 15-day free trial only. In this example, I selected “Open Source Social Network” Software, Because it is free as well as it is really a great web application with all facebook like features. You can select any software. You can see the demo. Don’t worry, even if you choose different software, the method is exactly the same as below. You can change any software or take backup & restore original. (That I explained later)

Main features of OSSN (Open Source Social Network)

• Realtime activity notifications, newsfeed, instant chat
• Photo, Video sharing
• Blogs, forums, wiki
• Groups, events, friends
• Comment, tag, rate any kind of content
• Privacy and profile customization
• Collaboration, file sharing, video-conference tools
• Ads (You can make money from this feature)
• Polls
• Site announcement
• Group Invitations
• Two Factor Authentication, Password Validation, GDPR
• First-time login custom functions – Redirecting first users with different pages to make them understand about the website.
• Feedback
• Audio, Video Call
• Halloween like effects
• Popular posts
• Site Moderations
• Custom user fields
• Verified Profile
• Link preview
• User points
• Hashtags & topics
• Flagging or reporting inappropriate content
• File Sharing
• Auto login
• Paid Access
• Share post
• Fan & Business page
• Forum
• Server Migration
• Events
• Access Code
• Private network
• Notification via email
• Login With Mobile number
• Site Offline
• Social login like Login with Facebook, Twitter, Google.
• Account list by gender search
• Blacklist word or bad word censorship
• User Categories
• Upcoming birthdays
• Ban users

Once you clicked on “Open Source Social Network” , then you will see this page.  Admin username & password are very important. Write down.

Follow the red arrows.

Next click the install button. It may take up to 1 minute. You will see the progress bar. Once the installation finished, then you see your admin login URL. The username & password are the same that you typed above.

It may take up to a few minutes. Once the installation finished, then you see your admin login URL. The username & password are the same that you typed above. If your domain name is mysocialsite.com, then usually the login will be mysocialsite.com/administrator

Next, enter your username & password.

Next, you will see the dashboard. You are the admin of your website. You can change anything on your website.

You can click on the homepage to see the real your own Facebook website..!!  You will see similar to like this.

Step-3:

3. Get Started With Your Own Social Website That Exactly Look Like Facebook

After you signed up, you will see very similar to the Facebook

Here are the essential social profile features. You can control all user’s profile or activity. You can ban or delete anyone’s account. Because you are the owner of the social website and you have the 100% control over the website..!

You can control all your users from the admin dashboard

Once you finished your website, then it is very easy to convert your website into apps for both Android and IOS app available. The app will automatically sign or connect with the website. that means, you can create an account on the Website and use that same account for apps or vice versa.

Now you can share your own Facebook-like website with your friends..!

Visit Bluehost & Create your Own Social Networking Site

If you don’t like this, you can change it again. You no need to delete the website.

You can create a new website without paying anything extra.

If you are not satisfied with the OSSN, then you can try different social network applications with the same hosting & domain! But you have to remove your installed OSSN completely. Here is how to remove it completely.

Go to Bluehost dashboard – Advanced – Softaculous – Social Network – Installations

Tick the checkbox – select “remove completely” option, then hit Go button.

You can install different social network web applications like Dolphin, Elgg etc on the same domain & hosting without paying extra.

You can also try WordPress-BuddyPress or WordPress-Peepso. You got Bluehost and you can try different social network applications using one Bluehost account. You don’t need to purchase again and again.

Just add a subdomain & install another social network software to that subdomain to test it. Bluehost provides you unlimited sub-domains for free. Just ask their support if you don’t understand. Bluehost support is really good and for beginners, they care even more..!

I suggest you take a backup before removing it. So that if you want it again, you can restore it in just 1 click. So that all your previous settings will back. But taking the backup is not necessary if you just tested it. Because you can install it again at any time.

Step 4:

Promote & Generate Revenue – You Can  Easily Make Money From Your Social Network Website

How to make money from your Facebook like your own website?

Before thinking about it, you have to get good traffic.

Launch publicly in your college. Share it with your friends. Give credit points for Sharing (using the OSSN user points program), make news on local newspapers. Attract kids by sharing funny videos on your website.

Contact celebrities & ask them to share it on their social media. You get a really big boost in the celebrity method marketing. You can easily get affordable pricings from Instagram models, TikTok stars or Youtubers.

If you get 100k visitors, then you may become a millionaire.

Once you get good traffic, then you can make a profit from various ways

1. Google Adsense (You can easily display ads all over your website in a single click & immediately you start to earn money if you get good traffic)
2. Your own Ad system (OSSN offers this ready-made ad function just like Facebook)
3. Paid Access for premium members
4. Selling stuff or integrating Amazon associate commission program
5. Premium community services
6. Selling games, ebooks, etc.
7. Once you get good traffic like 1000 visitors/day, then your website valuation increases. Sell your entire website. (I did this one –How I Created a Social Network Website & Made A Profit In 26 Days)

If you build it for a niche community like particularly for Musicians or Photographers or Business, then you can attract many people and generate a significant profit. Once you get enough traffic, (Atleast 1000 visitors /month) then you can apply Google Adsense. Otherwise, Google may not approve. You can sell items for Musicians or any particular niche.

The website is responsive. It is subscription payment also mobile-friendly. That means your revenue will not decrease on phones.

You can control your social site users here.

You can add many premium features. After you get some accounts, then it looks like this screenshot.

Yup! Share your website with your friends and get traffic.

If you got any doubts, comment below & get a response within 24 hours. If you got any problem while you are installing a social website, then you can get support from Bluehost. They provide you 24X7 live chat support & ticket system. I suggest the ticket system because you can view it anytime. But in chat, once you close, everything will delete.

All the best.

Visit Bluehost & Create Your Own Social Website
Like Facebook Today..!

Visit Bluehost &
Create Your Own Social Website
Like Facebook Today..!

Jack Cox

Hi… I am Jack, Founder/Editor at WebsitebuilderLy, An entrepreneur with 12 years of Website Creation, Management, Marketing Automation & App Development Experience.