Dummy's guide to selling advertising

I've got a website i own and run 'on the side' that has slowly progressed from the insignifcant to something on the verge of interesting. It's www.tabletpc.it , the first and still only italian web site dedicated to tablet pcs. it's niche and very small scale.

I got an email from Microsoft's media buyers today. They are interested in buying ads. There's not a lot on offer - about 10,000 unique users per month generating some 80,000 page views. But it's as targetted as can be. The site's positioned quite nicely on search engines (first on Google, Yahoo and MSN for the most important keywords) and included in Google's News.

My challenged are...

- I'm doing this as a private individual
- I work and live in the UK and are dealing with the Italian market
- I haven't got a clue about selling ads

So, what should be my first step? One question on my mind is whether a private individual in the UK can sell something to an Italian company.

Thanks,

Loz