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

You will be able to make the type of website as shown in the screenshot below.
No skill is required because of today’s advanced and easy web-building applications.

You will able to make social network apps, like the ones in this screenshot below.

Do you want to create a social networking website like Facebook? Or you want to build a social media site? But you don’t know where to start or have 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, in short, any type that you want!

Today we have advanced software & tools – everything made easy. You can customize settings within the social website as per your imagination to change the functions or anything. Just a few clicks are enough to do everything you want! You can even build a social website that makes money fast by using Google Adsense or any sponsored ads or games or subscriptions 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 plenty of money from their websites, but it depends on how you work to 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 in my college publicly at the age of 19 simply because Zuckerberg also launched at the age of 19! I followed what Mark did when he launched to ensure the success of my site; 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 story, as appeared in the 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, and finally, I found this method to be the best. Recently, I helped my friend to create his own social network using this method. The website is onchatter.com

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 But most of the methods are old, difficult & outdated.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

There are many web applications and software options like WordPress, BuddyPress, Peepso Plugin, Ning, Socialgo, Kickapps, SocialEngines and so many tools. But today, I am going to guide you to the best method. With this method, you get all of the 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 and 200+ more! You may get surprised!

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

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

(Note: If you want something unique social network or if you have your own ideas, then email to jack@websitebuilderly.com, we are a team of social network experts, So you get a quality website with very cheap prices without any issues. We will help you from building your social website to marketing & everything. Many people already successful and generating income. For more info email to me.)

So, how to create a Facebook-like website? Just follow the 4 steps below.

Step -1:

1. Get A Bluehost Package

Visit Bluehost & Try It 

Go to Bluehost

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

Next, click the “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 plan. There are many different plans. The basic plan is enough for your social networking site for now.

If you assume that 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 the $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’ve clicked Order, you will be prompted 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? Personally, I think it is better to choose the .club domain extension instead of .com, .net, .org etc, as these domains are so boring and it can also be difficult to get the name you want. This is because these extensions are popular and there may be someone already registered with 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 about $10- $15 annually, but Bluehost offers a domain name for free.

Different domain name costs vary a little bit. For .com, the price might be $15, but specialist domains such as .academy are usually a little bit costlier than others.

If you want the .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 a message saying “your purchase was a success”.

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

Once you click “Create Account”, you’ll see the login page. Just enter your domain name and password that you set just now while you creating your account.

Next, the “let’s create a website” tab appears. Just enter your domain name & tagline. Click continue.

Now you see the “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 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 the Advanced menu that you can see on the bottom left side. Then, scroll down and find Softaculous.

Click Softaculous,  and then you will see lots of web applications.

Look at the left side of the menu. Click the 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 being a really great web application with all of the necessary Facebook-like features.

You can select any software. You can see the demo. Don’t worry; even if you choose a different software, the method is exactly the same as below. You can change any software or take backup & restore original. (That I will explain 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’ve clicked on “Open Source Social Network” , then you will see this page.  Admin username & password are very important. Write down.

Follow the red arrows.

Sometimes you may get the “A trusted SSL Certificate was not found” notification. In that case, you need to turn on SSL from your Bluehost dashboard – my sites – hover on your site box icon – then you see manage site option, click it – go to security tab – there you will find the SSL turn on switch. Turn on SSL & come back to install OSSN. If you don’t understand, then just ask the Bluehost support. They will help you for free.

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

It may take up to a few minutes. Once the installation has finished then you will see your admin login URL. The username & password are the same as that which 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 version of your own Facebook website!  You will see something similar to like this.

You can change it like this also.

Step-3:

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

After you’ve signed up, you will see your own website that looks very similar to Facebook! (This is an onchatter.com website screenshot, which was created by Dave Caldwell by following this guide)

Here are the essential social profile features. You can control all users’ profiles 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.

If you don’t like OSSN, then you can try a different one such as Dolphin. Before installing another social network application, you have to remove OSSN completely.

Important note: If you click other than remove completely, then you can’t install another application.

Never ever delete your domain name. 

Mobile App

Once you’ve finished your website then it is very easy to convert your website into apps for both Android and IOS app . 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

You got Bluehost and you can try different social network applications using one Bluehost account without paying extra. You don’t need to purchase again and again.

If you just want to test the website out then add a subdomain & install another social network software to that subdomain to test it. Bluehost provides you with unlimited sub-domains for free. Just ask their support if you don’t understand. Bluehost support is really good and they help even more for beginners!

I suggest you take a backup before removing it so that, if you want it again, you can restore it in just 1 click. This will ensure that all your previous settings will be back when you want them – but taking the backup is not necessary if you are just testing 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

So, how can you make money from your version of Facebook?

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) and try to make the 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 for your website by using the celebrity method marketing. You can easily get affordable pricings from Instagram models, TikTok stars, or YouTubers.

If you can get to 100k visitors, then you may become a millionaire before long!

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, for example 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 your website for a niche community, 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 could try to apply for 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 and sis 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 will look like this screenshot. You can add sponsorship options and generate an income.

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

If you have any doubts, comment below & get a response within 24 hours. If you’ve got any problems while you are installing your social website then you can also get support from Bluehost. They provide you 24X7 live chat support & a ticket system. I suggest the ticket system because you can view it anytime. By contrast, in chat, once you close, everything will be deleted.

All the best for your social network website.

You favorite tutor, Jack

(Important Note: We are a team of social network experts. We know how to make a great social network website at very cheaper prices. Because we are masters of social media website creation, we know how to use the latest technologies for social websites without slowingdown the website or getting any issues. Handling a social website is very difficult and your local web designers more likely to fail to make a successful social website and you may get 100’s of issues. So I highly recommend you all email to jack@websitebuilderly.com if you need a social media website. We can sign legal if you want more trust!)

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.