Hi Peteboy and welcome to the board. If you are new to the business you might consider using a pre built portal from one of the affiliate programs like Referback or Sci Fi Casino. Many newbies cut their teeth on these type sites until they are comfortable building their own sites.
Another option as you point out is to pay for a designer or use a professionally built template. Designers generally start from a few hundred dollars and can quickly climb into the thousands based on the level of complexity you desire and can afford.
Modifying a professionally licensed Template is a good alternative and much less costly. Decent templates are available for under $20 and can give you a great starting point and look very nice for your visitors I like these two sites for templates, but there are plenty of others out there:
http://www.aplustemplates.com/
http://www.dollartemplates.com
Good luck and keep us posted about your new site.
:bigsmile: