TOPIC: Just starting and looking for advice on what to do first

Long title and it says it all. I am ready to purchase and begin a HIP hosted site and need advice on what to do and what order to do it in. I am a complete novice so be gentle ;D. I have not ordered yet but will as soon as I have a plan of attack Thank you in advance.

First layout a template for the information you need to convey.
You have 2-3 seconds to grab attention.
I will start with letting them know who you are and what you do.
Work on that first.
Text is best for search engines but graphics attract lookers so you want to balance that out.
Name,phone,what you do come to mind as a good place to start.
As you add pages you will want testimonials ,blogs,rss feeds, articles etc.
Takes study on SEO and some artistic talent plus time.

I myself struggle with what to add even though I know exactly what to do as far as tried and true go thanks to Dom's tips.
Think of people on your site as children and shout out what you are telling them.
Be upfront and on point as to your message.
What is your message?

Have fun and play with pages before you publish.
Try different templates and colors.

Thank you Bob we may start tomorrow. I have put it off for too long

I always tell guys to focus on the content first and then deal with the overall site design & formatting after. The main reason for this is not to overwhelm yourself. Thinking of what to say is often harder than figuring out how to do it and make it look good. If you try doing it all at once you end up overwhelmed.

Once you get the content in start adding graphics and going back to improve the text and how it lays out like Bob mentioned.

Thank you Dom, We have been planning on starting this for a few months and have some ideas. Today's question is do we start today or go fishing today and start tomorrow. My wife wants to go fishing. ;D I cant wait to get started.

HAHA. Normally that's reversed. Go fishing in the morning, work at night!