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

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 even 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. For example the popular one WordPress- BuddyPress method. But that method is old, difficult & outdated. Below I used the latest & the easiest method.

There are many web applications and software like Ning, Socialgo, Kickapps, SocialEngines and so many tools. But Here I am going to guide you the best method, in that method more than 20+ Ning like ready made social web applications available in a single dashboard..! So that you can switch or create any type of social site or exactly like Facebook like website with almost all FB features or even create many social websites without paying extra. 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.

Okay, Let’s follow the 4 steps.

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. SiteGround hosting is more stable even from its starting plans.

Visit SiteGround

Go to SiteGround.com (This is 60% OFF Link) or Bluehost
(You can also use Bluehost. This guide applies to Bluehost also. Just follow this guide even you sign up for Bluehost.com.  But don’t choose other web hostings. 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 SiteGround.  In 2020, SiteGround & Bluehost are the best hosting services with great support. That’s why I used  SiteGround)

SiteGround Reviews

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

& if you expect millions of visitors, then here Siteground offers Cloud hosting, dedicated hosting and very high volume plans. SiteGround is capable to handle your website even you get a huge unexpected traffic.

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. I recommend GrowBig Plan $5.95 for your social networking site.

If you assume, your website gets less than 10,000 visits per month, then order startup. But I recommend you to Order GrowBig plan even your website gets fewer visitors. Because you can create many websites and it included backup-restore up to 30 days and more premium features for free. However, If you choose the Startup Plan, then there is no harm. If you get more or fewer visitors, you can upgrade or downgrade the plan at any time.

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

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 .camp or .club domain extension instead of .com, .net, .org etc. The .com is so boring and also difficult to get the name you want. Because someone already registered the domain you wanted with .com. You can give names like www.badboys.club, www.NewYorkUniversity.camp, facebookhookers.xyz, www.usaphotographers.academy etc.

Usually, domain name costs $10- $15. 

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

Just enter the details. Give your email properly, because all information & receipt will send to that email after you paid. Choose a strong password with 8 or more characters that included at least one Letter of lower & uppercase, number, and special character. Otherwise, you can’t pay.

If you want domain privacy and hack alert monitoring, you can select it. I don’t think you need the domain privacy & SG site scanner in the beginning. You can get it later. Click Pay Now button.

It takes some time. Once your transaction is completed, you will see “Your order successfully submitted” message. Then go to your email. You will see your hosting account login information. Click login to customer area.

Once you clicked login to customer area button, you will see enter your username & password fields. Enter & click sign In.. Once you entered, you will see this page.

Don’t select the first & the second option. Click on the third option – “Thank, But I don’t need help” & click proceed.

If you find any option, just skip it & you will see the Siteground dashboard homepage.

Step -2:

2. Access Softaculous

Go to My Accounts, Click Go To cPanel.

Once you entered Cpanel,  You will see a lot of options. Click softaculous located under the auto installer menu. (Follow the red arrow)

Once you clicked on softaculous, you will see many software categories.

Step -3:

3. Install Any Of These Social Networking Site Software

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)

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.

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-4:

4. Get Started With Your Own Social Website

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

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

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

Visit SiteGround & 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.

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

You can buy a new main domain. Go to Add services & check domain names.

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.

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 affect which device people use.

You can control your social site users here.

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 Siteground. 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 SiteGround & Create Your Own Social Website
Like Facebook Today..!

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

Related –How I Created a Social Network Website & Made A Profit In 26 Days

Jack Cox

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