First off, check the Strategy Forum. There are lots and lots of threads there on starting tips and strategies for new players.
However, in brief, I always set my government spending slider to 100%. I set my tax rate to the maximum rate that leaves my starting world at 100% Morale. I set my homeworld to building Colony ships every 2 turns. And I never rush order a colony ship unless I am playing a tiny, or small, map size and I have a starting yellow star in my home sector. At those sizes, you may have neighbors close enough to not be able to wait until you build a colony ship to get to it (presuming I've sent out my beginning ship in the wrong direction). To get a colony ship every 2 turns, I set military spending at max (top of slider), and the other 2 (social and research) off.
Other then that, I pop off a colony ship until I have a good number for the map (depends on the size of map and frequency of habital stars you play with). I'll often take a break at the beginning and run off one scout and maybe soil my homeworld, depending on how big the map is (larger maps have a bit more tolerance in the first land grab).
After I have a good number of colony ships running around, I will then swap over my build from military to research and go for trade. Then build a couple of freighters, get my trade started, and go for my favorite trade goods.
The biggest trick to being able to play GC in the beginning is learning to set your 5 sliders... tax rate, gov spending, and the 3 production sliders (Military, Social, Research). After that, you can have fun and find your favorite play style for Gal Civ.
Good luck! Have fun!
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