As it says in the title. Though I run a web business from me casa, I have been paying others to do the design work for me...between 3 to 10 sites each week. And I never get exactly what I want. So, time to do it myself. I need someone to come to my home (in Gandia) who knows how to design a basic website, happy to be paid per hour, and more importantly, can "teach" me! Please send me a private message.
PS I was called "difficult" by my teachers at school!

have you considered any of the template sites like www.freewebs.com or www.123-reg.co.uk

then you could teach yourself

There are lots of books you can get on the subject, and various websites you can access. For example:

web basics /* great site, but be careful as it's going to migrate elsewhere soon */

webdesign by about.com /* loads of stuff by about.com

What you may find is that there are differing elements to making a website. Yes, for a static display, you will need html, css skills etc., and these can be learnt from the above websites. However if you want to make the sites interactive, and/or link to a database (essential if you are setting up a webshop) then you may have to learn relevant programming languages eg ASP (normally used by larger enterprises) or PHP/Mysql. You can find out more on Php and Mysql here:

php/mysql by about.com

mysql blog

I suspect that if you're new to php/mysql then you're really going to need to invest in a good manual. Don't write off the "Dummies" books; they can serve as good stepping stones to learning the basics.

Incidentally for Spanish speakers who are learning web skills, this can be a great resource:

foros del web

Phew, enough links there I think! Hope I've not violated the forum rules!

Thanks for the replies, but....
I have been through afew "websites for Dummies" type books, but really need someone to sit at my elbow (or on my knee if you're so inclined) because nothing beats first hand practical help. I have a number of blogs and sites which are updated on a regular basis, it's the design stuff that I need to come up to speed with.

Have a look at Synthasite.com

I did my own site in a couple of days with no experience what so ever before.
You get a choice of dozens of templates and the tutorials are very easy to follow.

Dreamweaver CS4 software is what most used and new bridge sftware coming soon from Irish company , and lot on Youtube to help you out
any problem give me a shot

This is helpful for me as well
I am trying to set one up for work
Thanks for all the info and thanks for posting this thread. I have been puzzling how to go about this for ages did not think of asking on here

Maybe so, but by far the easiest is to use Joomla and build it to what you want. Instructions are avaiable to download on the internet

Speaking as someone who knew very little about the technical side of building a website I would also recommend Joomla, we have just built our local association website http://www.cfra-spain.org/ using it. The basics took about two weeks, the design has a long way to go yet, but as I learn more about the process, hopefully it will improve and evolve. It was a steep leaning curve but there is a lot of help out on the internet for it.

Yvonne

I do our ours and at present translating some site form Spanish into English...It is a shame you don't live closer otherwise I could be of some help.
I have also read that some websites use Wordpress as the basis. Never used it personally so cannot vouch Lambie, can you add your website to your signature or send a PM with the link I cna give you a few clues on what is good or not, if that is any help.

As I understand it and found out myself, the problem with all these off-the-shelf 'wizards' / software, is they limit you, are crap for search engines and are a steep learning curve using up lots of time (LOTS)... if you have the time and determination then yeah I think that's the way to go but only to save money. To my mind for business it doesn't make sense though why do something that takes ages and will be sub-standard when you should be using that time to promote/improve the business in other ways. And you do need good PC/Graphic skills.

I wasted months & months - and got a handful of visitors because I didn't understand how to get into Google / Yahoo. So in the end I employed a guy and my visitors have multiplied no end. The design is only important once you have GOT visitors to your site !! There's a load of 'lonely' sites out there done by amateurs I think.

But good luck, you'll have fun & stress trying.

I have a large network of sites, both pay and free, along with a ton of blogs, forums, link list, dumps, Yahoo and Google Groups, and articles to gather traffic. Each month I add around 60 - 100 new sites. I have designers in the Philippines (but we do sometimes have communication problems!) and others in the US. They do great work. And all very SEO friendly. Gathering targeted traffic is not a problem (though, of course, everyone wants more).
In truth I've never been that interested in sitting at the computer during the day. But now my little mighty atom is at school, I have the time, and this old dog wishes to learn a new trick. I know I can find all the needed design info off the web, but....I prefer to pay someone to sit with me and do the do together. I would go to class, but first thought I'd give it a whirl on this forum. And one to one saves time in the long run.

I really don't think that you can just learn design with someone sitting on your elbow, you really need to know about design or have some artistic ability at least although there are hundreds of books on design out there.

Now do you mean design or do you mean make a web site? if you have a Mac there is a great program out there called Freeway by Softpress at http://softpress.com , it will create web pages for you without you needing to know anything about HTML, XML, Javascript, CSS, PHP or similar, at least for basic non database driven web sites. Freeway can also be expanded further than the basic app will take you using Actions, these are like plug-ins that can be used to enhance FW.

I would say the best thing to do is to do a rough sketch on your design on A4, make adjustments or changes until you have something you are happy with on the direction.
Next move would be to fire up Photoshop and create a visual of your sketched rough, if you have Freehand then this can be used for some components that you can copy and paste into Photoshop, now when you are happy you can move onto your web site application, you can then build the pages as per your Photoshop design and even make alterations to the design as you go. You can even copy and paste some part/s of the Photoshop image to use as image parts of the site, such as the logo for example.
Now in Freeway you would then just add the server information in the site info and press upload and the site or site changes will be uploaded to the server.

BTW, you can open up Freeway and just go straight in but I personally find it helps to use Photoshop to create the general visual layout first.

There are other programs out there apart from Freeway (Remember this is a Mac only app) but Freeway is probably one of the easier ones to use, although it writes all the code for you, you need to learn about PHP etc. if you ever need to progress further than a simple web site structure but as I mentioned there are hundreds of plug-ins that can help you there also.

HTH

No disrespect intended, but if you are adding 60 - 100 sites a month you have a huge library of code just waiting to be fiddled with already, unless of course they are all affiliate marketing one page junk mail type sites.

I do agree that your wanting to do it yourself and learn something new is admirable.
If you fancy php, here's a site that "sits at your shoulder" and teaches you via video's. which is the next best thing
good luck.

I missed that bit, 60 to 100 sites a month, *&^$ sake, I think our legs are getting pulled here!