Some basic question about AVR chips and Arduino

respected sir/madam,

i am new to arduino i want to make a arduino board (Arduino Single-Sided Serial Board (version 3)). i have few questions

  1. i have atmega8L. will i have to burn something known as firmware or boatloader in it.

  2. if yes please give me links for that and also tell me how do burn them.

  3. can i burn them with serial usb programers for avr chips.

please help me i really want to learn it.

thanking you