Yeah, what you do is you have a website MEANT for comic displaying to keep your readers there because it's set up for the easiest reading...even if it's SmackJeeves. I liked SmackJeeves's interface a few years ago. But when I last knew it, to be successful on SmackJeeves without promoting yourself you have to A.) draw in an anime/manga style B.) write male-on-male softcore porn C.) be lucky. If you happen to qualify for A and B, you're in the running.
Because it doesn't really matter where you put it if it's a place meant for displaying comics. What matters is how you promote it.
1.) Upload just enough pages at first to establish "This is the main character, this is the setting, and this is an interesting situation that the main character has to deal with." "Coming Soon" teasers don't really work for comics. Hell, they don't work for movies. Think about how many movie trailers you've seen and thought, 'Holy s**t, I want to see that!' and then think about how many movies you've actually seen.
2.) Create a buffer of subsequent pages. Seriously, create a buffer. Don't start your comic and upload it as you go. So, if something comes up, you can hit your "Update Every Wednesday" quota and nobody will be the wiser. How much of a buffer? The bigger, the better, to be completely honest. Hell, I've seen people finish entire works before actually distributing them online. Try taying a month or two ahead, at least.
3.) Upload comic-related art to [insert social media platform here]. Very fetching splash pages, teaser panels, all of them linking to the comic. Do this consistently, whether it's every update, every other update... But be predictable. Most content management systems let you queue up your work so you can upload 10 pages at once and then say, "Release one every week," so you load it all up, then let it autopilot.
4.) At first, people won't be interested in you. So, tell people you're interested in THEM. Run around on [social media platform] and directly interact with people. Sit down and go, "Today, I will talk to 10 new people." If it's Tumblr, go drop notes in peoples' Ask Me Anything, and don't do it anonymously. They can be random questions. They can be relevant questions. The point is to deliberately show 10 people that you exist.
5.) Get yourself free advertising by piggybacking off of the success of others. Pay attention to what is popular (adventure time, my little pony, pokemon...), and upload fanart. MAKE SURE that you have your Tumblr/Twitter/wtfever link on there so that when it gets redistributed, people who see it will see where to find more like it (don't rely on the comment box, people don't read that). Does it make you a sellout? Yeah, to the people who are jealous of you.
