How do you learn new words?

read it and then use it.

A thesaurus can do wonders.  Native speakers even use a thesaurus to improve their vocabulary.  Only trouble is the thesaurus doesn't let you know which words are used more than others.  (Or maybe there are some out there that do?)

I associate foreign words with a familiar word in my native language, for example, the word 'Cake' in Chinese sounds like "don't go" in English so I picture myself saying "don't go" to a really nice cake.

The word for 'Corn' in Chinese sounds like "you me" in English

The word for 'Dragon' in Chinese sounds like "Long" in English, and so on.

That way works best for me.

Does anyone actually try to read online content in Chinese or would like to do that?

I am finding partners to find and read interested Chinese online articles with.