This is really the secret. Pencil, pen, whiteboard, crayon, whatever. Anything that lets you rattle off half a dozen super low detail sketches in under a minute will work. It doesn't need to be pretty either. Just as long as it's enough to give you a feel for interacting with the page as a whole.
Once you have a good solid idea for how you ultimately want it to come together then you can move to a computer to drill down into the individual details, but for getting from zero to concept there's no substitute for analog tools.
As well as this continually-updated website: https://betterwebtype.com/web-typography-resources
Both give good high-level overviews of readability in digital typesetting and help with choosing the right fonts for the job
They are great and battle tested of course, but a good font is something that makes a good design stand out. I feel it's a 'hidden' component that many people can't articulate that they like it in a design. It totally depends on the project though :)
more on this: https://practicaltypography.com/system-fonts.html
The Typewolf blog is great:
https://www.typewolf.com/google-fonts
0) Start with the content. Always design around the content and the target audience in mind
1) Starting on pen and paper, I sketch 5-10 layouts in a short amount if time then I try to evaluate them based on gut feelings. This is also a good time to experiment with alternatives, new ideas. Google "webdesign patterns" if you need solutions for a given problem
2) Sketch a black and white HTML+CSS version then try to add the appropriate paddings and margins.
3) I look for inspirations in web design galleries, pinterest, dribble, whatever I can find.
4) Pick a good font for display + text, good typography is key
5) Try to make something that approaches the websites you like, grab a color palette from http://coolors.co, images from https://unsplash.com
6) Iterate
This list is incredibly leaky, but more or less this is the process if I have to design something from scratch.