Ok you probably already know this, But program wise: Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 is your best shot. It's fairly easy to use if you play around with it or read the tutorials etc.
Not to sure about uploading it as I use yahoo Geocities for mine, It's fairly straight forward, you just upload the .html files straight onto it and hey presto! webpage on the net :P
By the way, HTML is pretty easy to understand, after playing on Dreamweaver for a while, you get to know what it all means etc.
I'm sure you'd realise that you probably wont be able to make a really decent looking professional site on your first go (unless your good with photoshop etc) but in time, you will have a brilliant site.
Is it a trials site by any chance? :angry:
:'(