Once you decide in the type of business you want. The first thing you need to do is to go online and look at websites similar to the type of site you want to setup.  I am not saying to copy the site your looking at.  I am saying look for general presentation ideas.

How many pages does the site have?  What kind of information is on each page?  Does it have a frequently asked questions page?  Does it have a terms of use and privacy policy page?  Does it have an about us page.  If the site is product based, how many products are shown on each page?  Does the product pages have detailed information about each product, or does it show just the product picture and price?  What colors are on each page of the site?  Does the pages have a lot of white space or is the pages jammed with information?  Is the print large and easy to read or is it small print like a book?  If you are looking at a service oriented site is their prices posted or do you have to call a number to get prices.

The same questions apply to a service site as you would ask on a product selling site.

So bookmark the sites you really like and bookmark the ones that are really bad.

The reason I am asking you to do this is to give you ideas on how you want your basic website to look like.  So take your time and take good notes because this is an important step in creating your website.