How do I patent an idea?

I have a Great idea and i want to patent this idea so i went online to make a search for a company that will help me to patent the idea till i make a profit from it .but all this company wants you to keep paying them and none of them sound good to me...

I  want to know ...  How do i validate any IDEA ... How can i PATENT any  IDEA (obviously if it is worth at :-p  ) ... How do i propose/connect  with other Organizations to work upon it ... How to approach to Google/Facebook with it ...  because i am...

A person/team files a provisional patent before march 2013 in hope of testing their beta product and refining the final non-provisional patent in an year's time. But come March 2013, someone else files a non-provisional using the same idea leveraging...

i have an idea to patent a type of book cover (i won't say the idea because i don't want anyone stealing it..lol). but i'm not sure where to go to. my teacher saw my book cover that i created, and he said i should patent it. i'm not sure if he was kidding...

I was wondering if there is anyway of getting a patent on a idea for a cheap price. Or is it possible to sell an idea without a patent.

how can i patent a website idea...is there a cheap way or a site that lets you record that you had that idea at a certain time...its an idea like facebook or myspace and it is specific

I have this patent idea and want a friend to help me with this. My friend has already had an idea of his patented and knows the ropes. My question is, how would I go about dividing the profit if he goes in as a partner? I basically have the idea and...