Before you begin setting steps in stone, turn on the piece of music you plan to use and spend a few minutes improvising to the song. Don't think too much about the steps; just let your body move organically through space. Improvisation will help you bring your brain's interpretation of the music into the physical realm. If you are working with a group of dancers, you might also ask them to improvise to the music so you can get a better idea of how their bodies naturally move and interpret the music.
A well thought out theme for dance will shape your choreography and give it a clear direction. If you are choreographing for a musical, the script will likely give you a predetermined theme to work with. If you are choreographing a dance independently of a larger show, you will have more freedom to choose your own theme based on how the music makes you feel. Use a specific emotional theme like "fear" to guide the movements you will create. You might also choose a physical theme like a certain animal, kind of person or a setting. A dance themed around a forest setting might include whimsical or mysterious movements, while a dance with a snake theme would likely be lucid and low to the ground.
Instead of, or in addition to a theme, your choreography could tell a story through movement. Assign each dancer a role or character to play in the piece, whether your story is abstract or literal. Assign steps or movement phrases to different dancers unique to their character, but make sure there is a common thread that unites each dancer in the piece. This thread could be a movement phrase that the entire cast repeats at the beginning and end of the dance, or a step that each dancer performs throughout the piece.
Dynamic group formations add an extra dimension to your choreography. Use basic formations like straight lines and circles, as well as triangles and diagonal lines. Make sure you are fully utilizing all of your space, either by creating wide formations for stationary movement, or having smaller formations travel across the stage. You can use formation changes to speed up the choreography process if you are pressed for time. Create a few 32-count movement phrases and have your dancers repeat them in different formations throughout the dance. You can also use this technique when you are working with dancers who do not pick-up choreography very quickly.