I am a beginner trying to design a site for my photography. I was enticed by the supposed ease and time saving afforded by using a pre- designed template, so I purchased one w/out any background knowledge. How do these things work? I have all the files, but I can't even get started. Any help would be appreciated. thanks.

Templates are made for artistically challenged people, or people who don't want to spend much time on design. But you still have to know web design basics to make it work...
If you don't know anything about it, then you probably need to hire some help...

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With respect, Andrey Markin
Reality Software : Custom Software And Website Development

You can refer this tutorial to get help and try to design yourself.
Always check whether you have the software needed to customize the templates before downloading them.
Happy Designing

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Try Web design with free flash templates