Hi Connie,
I'm no expert on this, but I am in somewhat the same situation as you are. I have a website tht I paid someone to design for me. They registered the domain name that I wanted. I, also, need to make frequent changes, but when I asked the designer about this, she said that I would have to go through her each time. I found that unacceptable, so I decided I'd better learn how to do it myself. My ISP, Earthlink, gives me some free web space, so I figured I'd use that to practice and, when I got it down, I'd tackle the paid site. However, on the free space, they assign you the address, you don't pick it. Mine is http://earthlink.net/~johnson29/. Yours would probably be something like http://aol.com/~sprtn185/. To get SpoiltRottn.com, you would have to register that domain. You will have to pay to register, and for someone to host your site. Prices for this vary. Do a Google search for web hosting, or domain registration, and I'm sure you'll find quite a few.
I use Netscape Page Composer to create the pages. It's easy to use, and free. I then use WS-FTP to upload the pages to the web site. WS-FTP is also free, and they have a tut on how to use it. You will, then, "fill in the blanks" on WS-FTP with the information you will get from the hosting company, and it'll be on the internet.

Connie, building a website is very easy, and it's possible that your isp gives you webspace with yur internet service. My isp gives me 100mg of space, and that is a lot of space. I have many different websites and loads of pictures and haven't even come close to using all my webspace.
Getting the address you want is not hard or expensive. I donate some of my webspace for a club that I am a member of and I wanted the address to be the name of the club. I also did a website for a friend for her antique shop and wanted the correct address. I used Godaddy.com in both instances and got the addresses (domain names) that I wanted for $8.95 a year. I have done business with Godaddy.com for 3 years now and it's a great company to get a domain name from.

Please feel free to e-mail me if I can help. I don't do webpages for pay. I just love doing them for fun, so I would enjoy helping you.

John, if your isp gives you webspace then why not use it! I'll be glad to help you also if you want me to. If you can do your own page and get a domain name like I mentioned above, then you can update your website whenever you want to and your only cost would be the $8.95 a year for your name.

John, I should have read all of your post instead of just scanning through it! It doesn't matter what your address is with your isp. When you use Godaddy.com they register your domain name and then you point it to your address.

MaryAnn, Thank you for your offer. I have the free web space from my ISP, and I use it. However, I don't have anything set up on it for others to see, so I don't care what the name of it is. I just take what they give me; this way, it's completely free - not even the $8.95 a year.
I use the free space only for practicing making pages, etc., and storing pictures to post on forums. I also have a paid, commercial site, where I can have all the bells and whistles, shopping cart, credit card account, hit counter, chat room, etc., 350 MB of space, and 100 e-mail addresses. On that one, I have the name that I want, registered, and I can make the changes and additions that I want. I used the free space to practice how to make the changes, and when I was sure I had it right, I applied it to the paid site. Now, I mainly use the free space just for storing pictures for posting.

Connie -
It's way too long to write here. Go to the library and get a few books on the Internet and HTML ... expeciually the ones with "Dummies" in the title. Read them - don't try to understand them, just read it and something will click.

It is something you definitely can do yourself, and you can even set up the site on your computer to test and then upload it.

Hi John, I guess that your isp won't allow you to use your webspace for commercial purposes?

My isp doesn't care if I use my space for personal or commercial, so I use it to store graphics for posting here at the forums, for pages of my family to share with friends and family, and for commercial. I can have all the bells and whistles on it too, plus my own domain name for only $8.95 a year! Of course I get 100mg of space and 10 free e-mail accounts. Not near as much as you get. LOL I always enjoy getting a bargain!

But I do know that some isp's in my area will not let the webspace that is part of the internet service package to be used for commercial purposes unless you pay a commercial price for it.

HTML is easy to learn. One good way (besides getting a good book) is to "View Source" on simple web pages and see how they are coded.

You can even create web pages using Notepad, so you don't have to invest any money in it. As long as you can connect to your site in one way or another (by FTP, for example), you can create a web page, upload it to your site, and view it. You can revise it, then upload it again and see the changed page. It's good practice and fun. I started that way, and ended up being a webmaster/internet programmer.

It all depends on how you want to sell stuff on the web.
If you're taking credit cards (besides PayPal) then your talking about forms, cgi, perl, secure pages etc. that is more than the beginner can do. Its best to save yourself the time of learning it all and hire a webdesign company.

But the way I have done several sites is just accept personal checks and when the check clears send them their stuff.
I designed this web site in that manner - www.golfballgame.com that site is made up of all kinds of free hosting, Angelfire.com for some pics, web1000.com for most of the hosting and my own ISP for some of the hosting. And it was all done for $8.95 the cost of the domain name at godaddy.com! Its a good thing because my friend has sold I think two golf ball games. I agree Notepad is the way to go for a small simple site.