If you mean this is the story you have written, then that's one thing, but if you've written before and this is the first one you're pubbing, then that's different.
If this is the first story you've written, then:
1- Write whatever you want. The first story I wrote was back when I was 10, about Sherlock Holmes going through daily life and normal events (like his soup being too salty) and making up an entire chain of little details that happened throughout the day to somehow miraculously and idiotically relate it to Moriarty, while the poor guy was chilling at his home, sipping on some tea and doing nothing. That was the first story I wrote, and it was pretty dumb, but if I develop it now (after 12 years) I'll make a good detective parody out of it. I'm saying whatever you do will come in handy. A novel I wrote (Good and Bad) became an arc in the long-running fantasy series I'm struggling with (Mages). So just write whatever, and if you're confident in it, publish it. If you're not, don't. It took me years of rewrites and dropping projects to pub. The more you write, the better you'll get.
2- Read a lot. You already know it'll help
3- Find smth that'll make your story stand out. There are so many people trying to pull the same stuff you're pulling. A lot of twists and stuff have already been done, and that's where it gets tough. Make a style and a story that'll make people go "I know this guy wrote this I can just tell" this should be your aim. Sure, people like fun, but they love unique fun.
4- Figure out a genre you can write. (aim a gun at my dum face and I'll never write sci-fi...I just suck at it)
If you're pubbing for the first time then:
1- Treat your readers as people you have to impress, not people you have fun with. You're a content creator, they should have fun with your stuff. I know it sounds like as*hole advice but it helps you think of ways to improve.
2- Have a side project on the site you don't care about. What I'm saying is, treat it as ghost writing. You see, there are certain things people like more than other stuff. For example, fantasy reincarnation, shoujo romance, and LGBT are really popular. Make a side project with those themes, and be flexible to change it slightly to fit the readers' taste. Do research, write a side project, and that way, you can get a lot of people find the actual project you're devoting yourself to through a project they love.
3- Write shorter chapters (I wish I could...my chapters are long af I just can't do short stuff) if you write shorter chapters you'll A)have more content to give people B)500 people liking 100 chapters is better than 500 people liking 50 chapters. It helps with the rank C)A lot of readers here are into shorter chaps D)You get to stay in the game for a loger time before your novel ends
4- Hook your readers in the first couple chaps. Pull a twist. Don't bore your readers by constant exposition. You see those shows people talk about and say "it gets better after episode 8?" this is a negative point. Put your EVERYTHING on your first couple chapters. Jump in time suddenly, I don't know, make a new character interrupt everything. Pull a time loop, whatever you do, make it interesting. I recommend you watch Gakkou Gurashi and Talentless Nana first episodes as reference to see what I mean.
5- Have fun with it, because if you don't, no matter how much you love writing, you'll get tired and lose heart.
6- Have a specific number of people with you already, and update regularly. If they sub and like your chapters, you'll get higher in the rank and more people will see you. That said, keep up the best quality you can offer. People don't wanna see an overrated work. With great power, comes great responsibility. Your novel chapters should deserve the likes.
7- Look out for your competition. If you're writing mystery, read my novel or Sui Mai stuff, or the Devil's Triangle. They're pretty good and popular. If you're writing fantasy, check out Turtle's "The Beginning After The End" which is like, Tapas's all time popular big gem of a novel. Or the other novels that are popular there. See why they're popular, and what's up there. I'm not saying do the same thing they're doing because as I already said, your story should stand out, but A)there are certain tropes everyone loves...like caman...who would say no to a tsundere and B)keep an eye on your rivals...that's all
That's all I can think of for starting a novel right now.
Hope they're useful