Another great post that deserves resteeming for greater visibility, I'm happy to be one of your followers.
All the things you mentioned are great ways to become noticed in the community, especially building a tool that will bring value to the fellow steemians. But I would like to add one more thing that a new steemian can do to get noticed out there and that's commenting.
Getting involved, socializing, adding your thoughts in the comments is a great and eazy way to bring your contribution to the community. That's what makes a community great is interaction.