You've got three basic choices, Larry.
1. Do it all yourself
2. Use someone's templates and fill in the details
3. Pass it all along to someone else
For option 1, pick up a book on HTML (I use two really basic ones), read it, and try things out. Do this in private on your machine, so no one sees anything until you're ready. Longest lead time for learning, but you can do the most with it. Later on, you can expand to dynamic HTML (DHTML), Javascript, Java, and other fun stuff. You can also be amazed at how little you actually know, and how much more you know than the average person does.
With option 2, use Front Page Express (or whatever the light version is), your ISP's own templates, or someone else's templates. I created a quick site for a Toastmasters club I'm in a couple of weeks ago -- wmat.comcast.net to see what a quickly-filled-in template can look like. The advantage is that you don't have to know HTML, site design, or anything else. The disadvantage is there's not always room for personalization -- what they give you is what you get.
Option 3 is my preferred one these days [img]smile.gif[/img] , but not very practical from a financial sense. Until my kids get old enough to be interested in it, that is...
There are also numerous links and places you can start at on the web. I'm sure someone will come out with a list shortly here
So what's involved in setting up a site? Basically, a site is a set of pages that link to each other. You have to be able to get from one to another easily, and often you'll link in pictures, videos, or whatever else strikes your fancy. You can add in things like guestbooks, calendars, and almost anything else you can think of.
First thing... who's your audience? I mean, what do you want to accomplish? That's stuck me for the longest time. What do I really want to do with this stuff? Our family site hasn't been updated in over a year, largely because none of our family members headed over there to see it. I mean, once they saw my daughter's fourth birthday pictures, those pictures never really changed much...
Once you know who you're talking to, what do you want to say? That helps figure out the content.
After that, it's linking, linking, and more linking. And updating the design 'cause you didn't like something. And switching to cascading style sheets because it's so much easier. And cursing because Aunt Gertrude only uses Netscape 4.71, and it doesn't support any really complex HTML things...
Easiest way to start, by far, is with option 2... use someone's template, look at the code that's generated (perhaps with the book you bought for option 1), and when it comes time to expand the site to something else, consider doing some of it freehand.
It's as hard or as simple as you choose to make it.