There is no strict order to follow in the development of an online business

An effective online business needs this framework in place: Visitors → Subscribers → Customers To develop it you can start from anyone of the 3 elements. Content creators often start from the visitors. They grow a public. Then to monetize it they start a Mailing list. They gather their subscribers. And then they present them new products or services to convert them in customers. Freelancers may start with the customers. They find them through personal contacts or word of mouth. Then to systematize the sales process they start an acquisition channel. With it, they bring visitors to their websites and convert them in subscribers to their Mailing list. At that point they have the complete framework in place. Entrepreneurs with a clearer business project in mind from the beginning, start by gathering the first subscribers (mainly through personal contacts). Then they work on an acquisition channel, to bring visitors to their websites. This way they build a bigger Mailing list. Through it they present their products or services and increase the number of their customers.