Like everything there are no rules so go with what sounds good, but I think you can narrow down your decision points
I like to use my "tonal signature" effects first - i.e. Amp sim or distortion effects and of course some "gain staging" to ensure the signal is not too quiet or too hot
If required I then like to use a noise gate to control unwanted hiss/cross bleed from microphones to give as clean as possible feed in to the other effects
Then the first batch of processors in the chain are usually EQ, COMPRESSOR and sometimes a de-Esser
In most cases I prefer to compress before an EQ
This allows me to find the right compressor setting for the track safe in the knowledge that any EQ shaping will not alter how the compressor reacts. This is also a good starting point for those starting out with compressors and eq
There is another school of thought that suggest carrying out subtractive EQ first (i.e. taking out unwanted frequencies and/or a high pass filter) - Then use the compressor - Then use another EQ to do any tonal shaping
The other decisions to make about the order of effects are related to what you want to achieve - e.g. With reverb and delays
Do you want the delay to have reverb or do you want your reverb to have delay
The quickest way is to experiment with the order and decide which order sounds best - it will vary from track to track
You can then get creative by changing up the order - e.g. A gate at the end (or on your reverb)
You can also have other effects, or other tracks, triggering effects - e.g. Sidechain compression
If you use effects sends - i.e. You have a bus with reverb on it - you can add effects to this bus - e.g. Using a High Pass Filter to take the low end out of the reverb to prevent it muddying the mix
