it's been a while, but a lot of advice in here is like later game stuff. your first goal, imo, is to get a shelter going so you can be dry and "Rested" and sleep through the night. being rested is clutch for doing shit, as your stamina recovers very quickly when rested. monsters near you can prevent you from sleeping, so your fortification needs to be somewhat legit. you can build a treehouse by building like a stairway up into some trees. having an elevated and well lit base can be helpful early game when you are running around, so you can see/find your base easily on the way back when it's getting dark.

after some number of days, you will see messages about "the forest is moving" which means lots of mobs will try to jack your base for a while. i focused a lot on trying to make my base tough, easily defensible. i liked having little towers i could get up in and shoot over walls at monsters. leaving work benches in proximity to walls makes them easily repairable. you may want to find a coastal/peninsula to make it easier to defend your base. the best way to make a great base is essentially locked behind the first boss, who awards you with the antler pickaxe. you can use this to dig a moat / trench around your base. make sure there is a way for smoke to clear out of your house, lol, you can hurt yourself, but if exposed to rain or wind your fire won't stay lit.

don't die a bunch in a row quickly, as it fucks up your stats.

i was more into base building than exploring and advancing. definitely use your map/make marks for things like berry bushes. make bee hives for honey. with a cluster of hives it's easy to stockpile honey. some foods are for stamina (sweets) some are for health (meats). a mix is good for exploring/fighting, sweets are good for gathering/running/building.

i like to build and organize shit, so valheim was very appealing to me. my friend is more of a fighter/deep explorer who likes to be almost dying all the time, so we made a good pair. he would run around and gather weird shit, i would have the base set up so he could give pursuing enemies the slip, recharge, repair, and be figuring out next tier gear/requirements for him to keep an eye out for. and i would have it all set up for defending against big raids by monsters.

the hoe is an awesome tool. getting good at leveling ground areas and/or raising earthen walls (requires stone) is absolutely crucial for building a very slick base.