What moves the needle for my Carrd plugins

I’m doing a lot for my Carrd plugins project, but not all truly move the needle. Here’s me writing down everything I’m doing and experimenting with for the project, for sake of my own clarity:

• Creating free and useful plugins based on questions that Carrd users ask.
• Launching/posting plugins on Reddit, Facebook, Telegram, Substack, email, Twitter, Indie Hackers, Discord, my own site.
• Referral revenue from users signing up for Carrd using my referral code via my free plugins.
• Seller revenue from free plugins where users pay a honorary fee, or for the paid Carrd templates.
• Writing tutorials for my paid plugins.
• Occasional guest posts on other Carrd sites, like starrt.co/blog
• Adding my plugins to sales pages on Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy and Payhip.
• Sponsored ads on indie newsletters, Carrd-related websites and Gumroad pages.
• Great, human-powered support for my plugins, giving till it hurts.
• Actively contributing, helping and answering questions for free on Reddit, Facebook, Telegram, Substack, email, Twitter, Indie Hackers, Discord, my own site.
• Maintaining and refining my site, e.g. recently added animated gradient buy buttons
• Maintaining and updating plugins when it breaks

What truly moves the needle:

• Free plugins, and posting them on social media channels
• Opportunities where helping someone with a question led to sharing my plugins

Just two items out of the whole laundry list.

I mean, that’s not to say that everything else is useless and can be discarded. It’s all part of a funnel, and probably hard to be 100% certain that they are useless. Some are more top of funnel, creating awareness. The free plugins happen to have conversion results that are easier to observe. But it does help in clarifying priorities and weightages.

That if I’m busy, strapped for time and had to choose (as an indie parent is), at least I know which one I should work on.

Priorities priorities priorities.