Earlier this week I started an experiment where I am going to boost all my posts with bidbots/upvote bots for a week, and then have a week with no bidbots to determine whether they are profitable or not. Today I thought I would take an indepth look at how upvote bots work and the best strategies you can implement to ensure the highest ROI. Again remember I am not for or against upvote bots, this is simply an experiment to see how effective they are. If you understand how upvote bots work and follow some simple advice then they will be more profitable for everyone.
How do upvote bots work?
For example if the bots vote value is $200 and you send 5SBD and are the only bidder you will get a $200 upvote - sweet deal! However, if another Steemian sends a bid for 5SBD you will now share the vote, and receive a $100 upvote each. Obviously the majority of the bots offer nowhere near these returns.
If you want to know when the next vote of a specific bot is going to occur check out Steembottracker (run by 
The number of bots seems to keep increasing so there is plenty of selection available.
Key statistics from Steembottracker
If you are looking at using bidbots then you will need to be familiar with steembottracker and how the various functions work. Below is a screenshot followed by an explanation of how each metric works:
Vote value
This is pretty self explanatory - it is the amount that a full upvote is worth when the bot reaches 100% VP. It is good to keep in mind though when you are considering how much to bid - When you are making a higher bids mean you should vote on bots with a higher vote value. When you are a minnow this value is rather insignificant.
Min bid
Always look at this column before you bid! This is the minimum amount that the bot will accept as a legitimate bid. Some bots refund bids below the minimum, but others see these as a donation! So if you dont want to risk losing your SBD then always bid above the minimum!
Min / Max ROI
Some bots have a present minimum and/or maximum ROI limit - this means there is a limit to how much ROI you can make, or lose in any voting round. I am finding more and more of the bots are setting ROI limits to ensure they are profitable. I tend to bid on the bots without an ROI limit - more risk, but more potential rewards.
Min / Max Age
Bots have a parameter for the age of a post to be considered to be a bid for the round. Again ensure you check this out as you may end up donating to the bot if your post is to new, or to old.
Total Bids
This shows the total amount of bids received in the current voting round - obviously if this is more than the vote value then this bot is now going to be in negative ROI for the current round.
Max suggested bid
THE MOST IMPORTANT METRIC YOU SHOULD LOOK AT!!!! As the metric suggests this shows the maximum suggested bid - any bid over this amount will mean the bot will have a -ROI. So dont bid more than this value! I usually allow a buffer to be safe - for example if the max suggested bid is 1SBD I would probably bid 0.8SBD. If you ever see the max suggested bid at 0.00 then avoid using this bot for the current round, as it will lead to a negative ROI.
Actions/details
If you click on the actions button and then on details you will get the following screen:
Here you can see the total bids for the round, who has placed the bids, and the current ROI. You can also see all the same details for the previous round. Obviously if the current round is showing a -ROI then you dont want to make a bid on this bot.
Some things to consider when using bidbots
How much to bid?
Firstly you probably want to consider how much to bid - this is entirely up to each individual user. As a minnow or a new Steemian I aim to use an upvote to get some exposure and get my post to the ‘hot’ page. I find that a bid of around 3 - 5SBD is enough to do this (depending on the category your posting in). Obviously some new accounts won't have this much to invest, but the golden rule is to make sure you invest more than the minimum bid!
When to bid
This is a bit of a debate - some people advocate for bidding as soon as you have published your post. The reason is that if you get upvoted in the first 30 minutes then less will be paid to the curator (bot). Lots of bots now have a minimum post age for this reason - so they don't miss out on the curation reward. My strategy has always been to wait about an hour before purchasing an upvote. The reason is that this gives your post some time to be noticed and organically make it to the ‘hot’ page. If this happens then I don't worry about the bot for this post - and save my SBD for future post.
Doing the bidding:
So now you know how to bid and some strategies it is time to place your bid. Bidding is easy and can be done directly from steembottracker.com or from your Steemit wallet. I choose to place bids from my Steemit wallet. To place your bid, enter the bots Steemit name in the ‘to’ tag, the amount of your bid in the ‘ammount’ tag and the post you want upvoted in the ‘memo’ tag and then hit submit - easy!
I hope this tutorial has been helpful, and as always feel free to ask any questions