I spent way too much time trying to figure this stuff out on my own and I wish there was a simple explanation right here on WA so this is my attempt at providing the quick start bare bones lingo you'll need to know for web programming.
To Recap
HTML- What Will Be Displayed
CSS - How it Will Be Displayed
PHP- Server Side Programming Scripts that allow for interactive, dynamic content
MySQL - Databases to store the loads of information you will hopefully be collecting about your customers

I hope this helps you get started building your web sites and ultimately your web businesses. And I hope this helps you to not feel like such a doof when dealing with the freelancers who actually know what they are doing.