Great suggestions Teli! I use and recommend NameCheap too.
Another idea is to use templates instead of trying to build a site yourself.
I have not tried these but they are FREE and look really nice and could be adapted for any type of site. The nice thing about CSS templates is that they are clean and the colors and layout is all done for you.
http://www.free-css-templates.com/
Check out some of the top downloads like LGBlue and OrangeW2
Another source of great low cost templates, specially made for affiliate sites and already somewhat optimized for search engines is
www.goldenpinecone.com
But you may need to have Front page or DreamWeaver to use them.
Another free web site builder that looks easy and has good reviews is
http://www.webpage-maker.com/ Have not used it but have read good things about it.