The question is, what do you know now? If you're starting from scratch, you should learn HTML and CSS. As for tools, again it depends on what you already know. If you know a given programming language, you can usually find a static site generator that you can build from.

There are lots of templates free, or for purchase you can use, cut up and deploy. It really all depends.

Many just dip into wordpress, which for good or bad is pretty much the king of CMS. Others Drupal or similar.