How to be friends before dating?

So everyone keeps telling me that the best kind of relationships are the ones where the two people involved are "friends" first. But I (a guy) don't know how to just be friends with a woman without giving her the impression that I want to date. If I so much as chat in a normal, friendly and basic manner with a woman or ask her if she wants to casually hang out, she always gets the idea that I'm interested romantically. It's a huge conundrum- I can't be friends without giving off a "dating" vibe, but being friends beforehand is, ostensibly, the best way to go about things. What can I do?