Hi guys i hope you can help im not a developer and neither do i have any knowledge in web design, hence the reason for this post, so hopefully you can help??

My situation is this, i have an idea of which i have extensively done research for and believe it will be a money making venture, how much? who knows?!

my predicament is that i do not know how to go about employing a web developer or designer (if there is any difference)?

without giving too much away i have an idea not to dis-similar to LinkedIn.

how can i protect my idea to prevent the developer stealing it?

should i user a company or a freelancer?

i know this forum is not for tech savy dummies, so apologies.
any advice would be greatly appreciated.