Here's a mistake that I made when I built my first computer last summer. I was worried about static and me being the extra cautious type I bought myself one of those static discharging wristbands on amazon (very affordable and worth the peace of mind it brings) so in order for it to work you need to attach the alligator clip to a piece of metal in order to ground yourself. Most builders use the metal case itself which is safe to do so. Your motherboard needs brass standoffs so any static that passes along the chassis will not affect the motherboard. Now this is very important if you do use your case as a ground MAKE SURE THAT THE PART YOU ATTACH THE ALLIGATOR CLIP TO IS METAL!!!!!!

I made the mistake of assuming that just because something is hard and cold (stop laughing) that it was metal it later turned out to be plastic

Fortunately for me it was the summer and I was standing on a hardwood floor so I didn't have any static and the computer is still working so a potential disaster was avoided.

Also this goes without saying that you need to go in another room without carpeting when it's build time.

Another thing to keep in mind is that although anti-static bags protect their contents from static charge the outside of these bags potentially has MASSIVE amounts of stored up charge I have heard of many people who will take out sensitive electronics and set them down on those bags this is a major no no