Off-color joke:
Spoiler:
An elderly European immigrant, upon deciding to retire, gave over management of his business to his son. Perhaps unfortunately, the business was a brothel. Even more unfortunately, the son was a philosopher with no interest in running any business, including that one. Instead of trying to bring in customers and increase business, he spent his time trying to get the working girls to read his favorite books of philosophy. Naturally, this led to problems and the business verged on bankruptcy. The father finally returned from his well-earned golfing vacation and looked at the mess his son had made. He immediately recognized the problem: "Son, my son, your problem is dis: you cannot put Descartes before de ..." well, even the protection of the Spoiler tag has its limits, so I'll leave the last word for you to fill in.
That's the problem here: the interchange of horse and cart. I've been building websites for a very long time, and in the process, I've learned a few things. Probably not as many as I should, but some have stuck hard. And one of those is that trying to build a website, let alone an online business, without a comprehensive plan is like trying to build a skyscraper without a plan. You can get up a few stories, but when you get too far, the whole thing will come crashing down around you.
What are you selling?
You're selling something. It might be content, it might be advertising space, it might be something else, but it's
something. You need to determine
exactly what it is that you're selling, in precise detail. Without that, you can't begin to decide how to go about selling it.
Who are you selling it to?
You have a target market. You need to know who they are. You need to know them so well you'd recognize them if they sat down next to you on the subway. "Everyone who likes music" is not a market. "Men aged from 18 to 30 who MP3 players" is closer. Refine it further if you can.
Why are they buying it from you?
This embodies two questions: Why are they buying it at all, and why specifically from you instead of someone else. Your own assumptions, by the way, are almost certainly invalid. It's like proofreading (and you still haven't fixed that typo, by the way): when you're too close to something, you see what you expect.
How do they know you have it?
In other words, marketing. This is at the very end of the list. You can't market something until you know what it is, who's buying it, and why. But you have to plan for it as soon as you
do know those things. It won't just happen.
They're all simple questions, but their answers are not simple. Their answers are, however, absolutely essential. You need to know them before you can start building your website, your brand, and your business; if you don't, you're just flailing around going nowhere (or backwards). "You guys start writing code, and I'll go upstairs and find out what they want" is a
joke, not a business development model. Those questions, and those answers, are part of the blueprint you need to start building.
Don't put Descartes in the wrong place.