My first step

[Beaver Bob]

welcome to GG&J

Yes your web development experience will come in handy. The best way to start is to build freesites and submit them to link lists.

the only other thing i'll say is defintely do not go with free hosting. fork out a few bucks a month to start on a nice shared plan. you'll be glad you did

best of luck to you

[MrYum]

Welcome to GG&J Irish

Good advice from Beaver about steering clear of free hosts if you want to do free site submissions. Almost no respectable link sites will list free hosting anymore...way too many problems in the past.

As to your question regarding design work...if you've got some skills, absolutely yes. Cruise through some of the link lists and look at how sites are laid out...get some ideas. Please note, and I have to say this due to previous experience...never directly copy someone's work...it's the quickest way to ensure a short stay in the adult biz. No offense intended Irish, but it's happened many times in the past so has to be pointed out to someone new

So yea...if you've got good skills and can adapt to the adult angle...you could make some bucks just doing galleries and/or free site templates.