With the issue around the token that Javier Milei (Argentina's President) endorsed, and how badly it turned out, it has become obvious that trusting top names or even celebrity with how you engage with crypto is very risky business.
It has become very obvious that more than ever before doing your own research is extremely important, and this only works if you know how to.
Some of the things to look out for is the cliche white paper and team behind the project, you also want to lookout for its tokenomics, to ensure the token distribution isn't just a cash-out plan for insiders. You can also use explorers to track the token's movement. These are just some of the few I remember, I'd also appreciate inputs under this for how others research projects they want to invest in.
I've learnt the hard way to avoid any project that is endorsed or created by any celebrity, way back some years ago (I can't remember what year exactly) I invested heavily into a project that was endorsed by Bow wow and Mario, both are well known musicians, I invested in this project because of the love and trust I had in this both artists, but unfortunately, this project later ended up being a scam, I lost a very huge amount of money, I was very disappointed to be honest, this was when I started staying away from projects that are endorsed by celebrities.
And speaking of finding good project, the points you gave are all valid, but another one to also note is, if one want to reduce the risk of picking the wrong project, they should simply invest only in Altcoins that are already listed on large exchanges and have good community.