Using automake and autoconf is really beyond the scope of this document, but you should go read manuals online at http://www.gnu.org/manual/manual.html, or read the info pages if you have them installed with gnome-help-browser.
There is now an example application which can help you get started with autoconf/automake, the internationalization setup, and other build issues, as well as serve as a good hello world example. You can get it at any gnome ftp site mirror (go to http://www.gnome.org/ftpmirrors.shtml for a list of mirrors) in the sources/GnomeHello/ directory.