If Vinland itself doesn't have anything of sufficient value to justify a long-term settlement, could you make it a stopover to somewhere that does have something of sufficient value? Suppose some harebrained explorer for whatever reason takes his ship as far south from Vinland as he can. Could he make it down the coast to Mesoamerica or down the lakes and rivers to Cahokia?
I'd envision a situation where rumors slowly leaked back to Europe of the great cities across the ocean where you can swap a shipload of iron for a shipload of gold or jade or chocolate. The voyage would be long and hard, but just one successful trip would set you up for life. And there would probably be a fair few young men willing to risk their lives following up on those rumors.
In such a situation Vinland could be a base-camp where European traders and explorers plan their expeditions to find these fables cities far to the south. As time goes on, even if the trading expeditions are only occasionally successful, you would have enough people coming and going, and enough of an economy, that the Vinland colony would hit a self-sustaining critical mass.
See, I love this idea, it is one of the effects I'd see of a stronger Europe (or specifically a strong-Northumbria) TL - with less easy targets, invasion and conquest is less cost-effective, making exploration and remote settlement more popular. A chain of small settlements could become 'Norse Road', small homesteads that become trade posts once the far end has been found. Suddenly you could have the Norse/Norwegians/Whatevername trading from Persia to Mesoamerica along long trade routes whilst Europe goes "WHERE IS IT COMING FROM!?"
Vinland is likely to be the larger series of communities, but a number of small homesteads that are tolerated along the East Coast isn't impossible, just not a 'big deal' until the big trade partners are found. Smaller ones (like the Cherokee, or Powahtan?) would enable some trade, but the bigger ones are the jackpot - and may well prevent OTL colonialism entirely by virtue of having imported, and then adopted iron and steel working.