Step 1 Voting and Starting Kit.
Many servers offer a starting kit and perks for voting! Sometimes the rewards can be very good. Starting kits are provided so that you can start off with some items instead of having nothing.

Step 2 Running
After you voted and got some stuff you should go run as far away from spawn as possible. This is to prevent you base from being raided by enemy players.

Step 3 Gathering Supplies
After running FAR away from spawn you will want to gather supplies such as wood,coal,food,iron,gold(for god apples),diamond,and XP.

Step 4 Making a base
So you will need to make a base to store your supplies. Some servers sell bedrock, others don't. If you can get your hands on bedrock you should make it out of it. As an alternative, I suggest Obsidian.

Step 5 Making a mob spawner
*Optional* If your server doesn't have a public mob-spawner you should make one yourself because they can prove very useful for enchanting item.

Optional Step
If the server has McMMO I suggest farming off of a friend or a second computer and getting your acrobatics level up for quick escapes and no fall damage and your axes level up so you can break armor alot faster.

Step 6 Raiding and PVPing
After you have gotten INSANELY good items. You should go raiding and kill players in PvP combat. A good way to kill players is to spawn kill, although, it is VERY annoying it can prove useful.

I hope you enjoyed this guide! Don't forget to leave a diamond!