Several first steps to take:
Find a web host you can afford. The prices vary considerable and so do the services. The premium sites will provide unlimited bandwidth usage and excellent File storage for images, audios etc. You can expect to pay up to $100 US per month for a choice web host. Some good ones are:
Bravenet (My personal Favorite) Link:
http://www.bravenet.com/
There are many good ones. A google search for Web Hosts will bring many up. Check a few out.
Next obtain a good FTTP program, even if the site does over online FTTP editing. It is best to design your site on your own PC and then upload it to the site.
This will be a purchased program. The best I found is "Dream Weaver" expensive and complicated to fully learn. But, it can do everything from producing flash movies to controling special effects. Well worth the investment as once you get the hang of it you can fully edit and redesign your websites with ease. Source:
http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/
I just checked the source and the price has dropped considerably in the past few years. Now down to $399 US was over $1000 about 5 years ago.
The final step will be the registration of a domain name. Your dot-com address. The cost is about $50 up front then $10 per year. A good web host will often do that for free for you.
If you wish to do it on your own:
http://www.register.com/retail/index.rcmx