Web sites are most easily read when there is dark text against a white background, with color built up around the text. Remember that you want visitors to your site to focus on the information available. Although I use several programs, Photoshop is a personal favorite, along with Flash to add animation and multimedia. First, get other sites to link to you. Second, examine your code.
Meta tags are extremely important, especially the keywords and description elements.
Also, look at your title. Within your html, your title, meta tags, and first paragraph should give detailed information on the site's contents. That's what the search engine robots target. Then, register at the search engines. Of course, a domain name needs web space with a web site.