Newbie looking for advice: what are the first few things I should upgrade?

Hi! I just played Clash of clans, I'm still getting the hang of it. Can I get some advice on how to have a good start on the game? Should I put first my resources on making gold and elixir? Thank you. :)

Assuming your townhall level is below th7, the buildings you should always upgrade whenever available are:
mortars (not all at once)
Wizard towers (once they become available)
laboratory - for researching unit upgrades
Army Camps/barracks

Cannons, Archer towers, teslas and air defense can be upgraded once the more important buildings are done
of course, don't forget to upgrade your storages as needed for upgrades

for unit upgrades, upgrade the ones you use most often first. (most likely archers, giants and wallbreakers, barbarians and goblins)

Walls can be done between upgrades

The amount of elixir and gold you get from raids should be around equal, but I would focus more on gold unless all your builders are already working.

It may be tempting to upgrade your th whenever you get enough gold, but try not to upgrade your townhall too soon. The more defense upgrades you neglect now, the longer you'll take to catch up later on.

I just went through this(and still am). There's a ton of good info on here. Search this site for "upgrade first", get you a nice cappuccino, and read for a while.

You need to focus more on resources in your raiding than trophies for now. Get your base built up, and THEN worry about trophies.

Collecters, this helps everyone. Then splash damage and troops, then the other defenses and camps.

it's important to have enough money to do what you want to do. You're not an attractive target so boost the ways to get money, start with collectors and then your army to take money from other people.
Once your collectors are maxed out, defend your village to the maximum.
Once everything is done upgrading, move to the next level town hall.
I completely ignored raiding when I started, you can do very well if you build a competent army relative to your th and take resources from other new players.
Good luck.

thanks a lot guys! :D really helped a lot!