I've just written a lovely post on this and lost in in looking for the blue clicky thing.
I spend ages convincing penny pinching admin folk that web design isn't something that can be tacked ont o a secretarial role!
I is not just typing words and throwing in the odd picture! That goes for a lot of IT geeks too!
If you do do it, do it well, look at what the code does, keep off flashy graphics, use some artistic flare, find out if legislation affects what you are doing! This is a good thread
Don't rely on wysiwig tools which usually double or even treble the code! Keep Graphic sizes down...... I could go on forever....
Think about who it is trying to reach and what it is meant to convey and what it is meant to be doing not just what you think you want to say!
As you can tell a heartfelt plea, I don't want to discourage anyone - catters are general very artistic and bright BUT the WWW is full of cr*p sites and some really good ones - please please be objective and get yours in to the latter category - by having it checked out objectively by someone else, comparing it to some good sites.
Get it a level above my typing - rant - rant - rant