This post is a continuation of the previous articles on using the various promotional services and bid-bots available to all Stemian's.
If you have not read part #1, then please click HERE first before reading this post.
In this post I will cover Bid-bots and how to use them properly.
Please right click on this LINK and select "Open in new tab" (varies from browser to browser). You should now have the most widely used bid-bot tracker website open.
Before we begin, it is probably worth taking a second to explain just what a "Bid-bot" is.
If you are a Steemian, then you have some voting power. The more Steem Power (SP), the more voting power. Bid-bots have a lot of SP. With this large SP, they may have upvotes worth several hundred SBD/Steem.
We all dream about having a whale come along and notice our great article, loving it and giving us a 100% upvote worth some major $. But the reality is, there are a lot of great articles out there and ours often just scrolls into the abyss of the down scroll.
Enter the Bid-bot, these whales will vote on your fine article in return for payment. It really is pretty fundamental.
Bid-based voting bots work on a bidding system. You can send any amount of SBD above the minimum (minimums vary for each bot) and once the bot account reaches 100% voting power it splits a 100% upvote between all of the bids based on each bid's % of the total amount bid during that period.
It takes 2.4 hours for voting power to return to 100% after a 100% upvote so each bidding period typically lasts roughly 2.4 hours. Recently some bots have switched to giving out a 50% upvote every 1.2 hours instead. You can see this indicated next to the "Vote Value" in the table below.
Take the following example: With a 2.4 hour bidding period user A sends $1 to a voting bot and user B sends $3. The total bid is $4 so that means that user A will get a 25% upvote on their post and user B will get a 75% upvote. If the bot's 100% upvote is worth more than $4 then both user A and B will receive an upvote worth more than they have spent.
Please note that vote values are based on the current value of STEEM. As STEEM prices rise or fall the value of votes will too. Additionally 25% of the value of votes cast more than 30 minutes after a post has been made go to the curation rewards, so for a $0.75 payment you would need at least a $1.00 upvote to be profitable if you are taking curation rewards into account.
There are two types of bid-bots, manual and automatic. Manual bid-bots generally have much lower SP and therefor cast much lower valued upvotes, but they can be useful as they do not receive as much traffic which often results in a higher ROI for you.
However, we are going to concentrate on the automated bid-bots and how to calculate the actual return.
In order to fully understand the return on our investment (ROI), we are going to have to understand what that $ means next to the payout value on the bottom of every post.
In the image above, you see the value $66.99. This is not dollars and it is not SBD. It is a combination of SBD and Steem, referred to by our friend over at Steem Supply as STU (Steem Token Unit).
Please right click on this Steem Supply and (open in a new tab), and play around with this great calculator until you get a handle on just what these STU's are.
OK, these calculations are pretty complicated, so luckily when you use the automated bots on steembottracker.com, they do the calculations for us, but it can still be a bit confusing. So it its time to unravel the mystery.
See the above image.
eBoomerang has a 100% vote capability of 101.76 SBD.
It will accept a bid of no less than 1.50 SBD (DO NOT SEND LESS -- IT MAY NOT GET RETURNED -- @appreciator for instance will NOT return your bid if you send in less than the minimum!)
eBoomerang will not upvote on any post more than 2.5 days old.
Currently there are 69.24 SBD in total bids for this round.
The bidding pool is pretty full, and Steembottracker is recommending that no more than 7.08 SBD be added in bids.
The next vote will occur in 1 minute and 17 seconds.
So I waited 1 minute and captured the final bid results for the round, see image below.
Please click on the "Details" button the right of one of the bid-bots to see the bidding details. Example below:
According to the "Current ROI" in the image above, the round ended with a small loss of return. That is, after curation, you will have paid a bit more for the bid (in equivalent USD), then you as the author will receive back (in equivalent USD). (But I'll talk about how we can change this below.)
Looking at the first bidder, aamirijax, bid 1.50 SBD, based on today's SBD market value the 1.50 SBD = $7.88 USD. They will receive a vote worth $1.99 SBD. BUT, they only get 75%, so the actual return is $1.4925 SBD. A very small loss.
So at this point, you need to decide why are you wanting to use bid-bots in the first place?
- 1 To make a direct profit on your bid or
- 2 To promote your quality article by giving it some visibility and the impression that it has worth, come take a look.
If you are going after #1 only, then you lost out (and you need to use the strategy I will talk about later in this post.), however, if #2 is your goal, then you have succeeded very nicely. You will just want to use larger bids in order to achieve the maximum visibility and promotion.
OK, Its time to talk about these STU again, using an actual example from my account. In my wallet is the transaction below:
7 days ago Transfer 10.000 SBD to upme https://steemit.com/steemit/@bycoleman/a-post-of-much-greater-value-how-to-increase-your-vote-count-dramatically-just-like-the-big-fish-do
Looking at the vote detail in SteemD
| voter | weight | wgt% | rshare | pct | time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| upme | 0.00148 B | 54.44% | 3,002,088,666,037 | 2.85% | 2018-02-07T17:49:39 |
You can see I received a 2.85 % up vote from @upme. This single vote accounted for more than 54% of the total vote value of this post (so far). And then there is this big number 3,002,088,666,037 called "Rshares". The RShares is the actual number that used by the blockchain to calculate the final payout.
If you want to know the exact Author and Curator rewards used in an up vote and down vote here is the best I have found on this subject by @jga -- But to be honest, even with the explanation, it is still hard to understand.
This graphic is truly excellent in depicting the upvote flow.
So, why have I told you about all this, well simply put, you cannot tell when you place your bid with a bid-bot just how much your payout is going to be and just how much your total reward at the close of the post will be exactly. (7 days after posting).
Based on today's SBD/Steem market value, for a bid made 30 minutes after the article was submitted, you need a payout of 2.25% - 2.50% (as displayed on the bottom of your post) vs the SBD you sent in as a bid, to actually break even. Luckily, the "Details" section on the bid bot attempts to calculate this; as well as the calculator that is above the bid section. This calculator uses the current bid pool of each bot to show you the (near) real time break down of your bid vs what you will receive in both SP and STEEM.
If you use this calculator and/or the calculation that is shown in the "Details" section for each bid-bot and the value is positive, then you will probably break even or see a small profit.
BUT ... Everyone else is also looking at these same figures, looking for the best ROI. Often a slew of bids come in just before the round is closed. So, if making a profit on the bid is important to you, then you should only place bids on bots that are about to cast their vote AND the ROI is still better than 25%. Often you will see better ROI's when the USA is sleeping and on the weekends.
You can also place an early bid with a bot using a proportionally large amount of SBD. By doing this, you have already taken a large chunk of the bot's voting capability, which may cause others to refrain from bidding. Problem is though, many bidders bid directly from their wallets and do not even use a bottracking website to see the current ROI.
Both of the above methods result in hit and miss payouts and there is simply is no guarantee you will receive a net positive bid. Personally, I view these promotional tools as a form of advertisement, which I fully expect will have associated costs. Bid-bots compared to Google "Adwords" are a REAL bargain!
BUT, if you are REALLY set on getting the best return for your bid, then give this a try to maximize your ROI.
- Create your article, proof it twice and get it ready to press the submit button (POST). I like to make a copy of the text and save it just in case there is a crash of some sort.
- Go to the bot tracking website and start watching the bots that are at the top of the list and wait for a bot that is about to cast their vote. If the bot shows a positive or small negative return and the round will end in the next 5-10 minutes, then POST your article, get the URL of your article and cast your bid using the "Send Bid" button on the far right of the bot. You have to get this done before the bidding ends for the round.
Note: I actually send the bid directly from my wallet using the transfer feature, for security reasons (more later), but either way -- send your bid to the bot. You can have this ready to go as well, less the memo field.
Your bid will be displayed at the bottom of the bid list within a few minutes.
If the bot up votes your post within 30 minutes, then a larger portion of the upvote will go to you the author. The exact value "slopes" off in proportion to the time difference between the submission of the post and the time of the vote.
Now the above 30 minute window can be a bit hard to achieve for a second reason and that is, the bot may simply not bid for many minutes after the round closes. But you can give it a try if you really want to play around with maximizing the ROI.
But the best way to maximize ROI is really much simpler.
Write quality articles, then use the bid-bots to gain visibility. Articles that have large payouts attract attention FAST for several reasons:
- If the number of votes is increasing rapidly and the payout is climbing then the post may appear on the "HOT" list.
- Quality articles that have larger payouts attract more votes. 1) They are quality, 2) Curators want to share in the rewards pool, so they upvote.
- People vote simply because they want you to notice them since you are an author that knows how to get it done.
Write quality articles that are likely to have a wide audience appeal and promote them substantially and your long run ROI will also be substantial.
More votes from others = more followers, and more adrenaline for you == even better articles down the road, with even more votes and more followers .....
Don't bother trying to promote junk articles, memes, dtubes links etc. You probably will not achieve positive results.
Think quality and target audience. Great articles that are likely to appeal to a larger audience are simply more likely to receive votes. Create articles you can express your true passion in, your expertise and your personal experiences, these are major factors in seeing a great ROI.
OK, I mentioned security risk. Currently the bidbottracking site takes your bid information including your password and THEN sends this information to SteemConnect. It is therefore theoretically possible that your password could be stored. I do not think this is the case, but I also don't want to take a chance, so I send my bids directly from my wallet by simply clicking the the down arrow to the right of my Steem Dollars and choosing the transfer link. (put your URL in the memo field). I might be a little bit paranoid, but I really don't like to take chances with my hard earned SBD.
Disclaimer -- I am still very new to Steemit and have plenty to learn myself!
As in this lesson just learned from @grumpycat -- Don't bid on bots that bid on posts more than 3 days old. Grumpy will seek you out and take a chunk of SBD back from you and all the curators!
I really hope you found this article to be useful and informative. If so, please upvote me so I can continue to create these detailed documents. Resteeming is a true vote of support. :)
Update. This post has made it to the trending tab. It got there because I placed bids with the bid-bots. This of course is not meant to be a secret, it is the point of this article. HOWEVER, I spent around 125 SBD and possibly more to accomplish this, so the payout you see are not without costs. Grumpy cat also removed a chunk of SBD from the total as well. And of course the curators (all who vote on the article get 25%). I will actually let you know the exact amount spent and returned when this post closes.
I believe this article has realized a nice ROI and I also believe it is also educational and very much worth promoting. But it only worked because I had sufficient funds to get the fire started and It was, in my opinion a quality and informative article to begin with. Again, promoting junk is not likely to yield positive results.
OF NOTE. 02/15/18 -- I just checked each of the 4 articles above this one in the Steemit:Trending -- and ALL of them used bid-bots.
Invest wisely for the future.
@bycoleman
https://ColemanAir.us
Craig
You have been victim of a @GrumpyCat flag because you or someone else sent money to buy votes from an irresponsible non-GrumpyCompliant service.
@sneaky-ninja @pushup and @aksdwi are acting irresponsibly by selling votes to people on their post in the last hours before payout. = 99.99% abuse rate.
Sending money to these bots is also financially supporting for-profit spammers.
To know what voting bot to use, refer to https://steembottracker.com/ and use those that have 3.5 day or less in the "Max Age" column.
Learn more ...
@grumpycat was mentioned in good words for the good word done to restrict bot abuse in latest post on bid bot abuse. Grupmy Cat has shown kindness and removed flags from this post, which is commendable. It is a request to consider rewarding efforts to generate discussion on bot abuse and stopping it. Thank you.
Sneaky Ninja does not fund spam or abuse in anyway and is in no way irresponsible. This cat is simply a theif, stealing your money as well as so many others. Not to mention raping the reward pool heavily in the process. This rule of his is not real. It is simply his way of covering up the massive reward pool rape he is conducting on our platform.
In fact, if you would like to see what steps Sneaky Ninja has taken to fight bid bot abuse see this post and this post. There is also much more being done behind the scenes right now.
@sneaky-ninja is a very responsible bot. This is simply slander to hide all of his ill gotten gains.
Thanks for sharing these two posts. I am very much interested in reading them and knowing where the ecosystem is going and which stakeholder is doing what. I appreciate your efforts. I am going to read the posts and give my feedback.
I was trying to make a point.
It seldom happens. Some people do not use their power wisely. Thanks to those who do because this platform is alive because of them.
His intention is not to reward but take.
I didn't know that (and still don't quite understand the difference between a bot that votes for old posts versus one that votes for fresher posts).
Sneaky Ninja does not fund spam or abuse in anyway and is in no way irresponsible. This cat is simply a theif, stealing your money as well as so many others. Not to mention raping the reward pool heavily in the process. This rule of his is not real. It is simply his way of covering up the massive reward pool rape he is conducting on our platform.
In fact, if you would like to see what steps Sneaky Ninja has taken to fight bid bot abuse see this post and this post. There is also much more being done behind the scenes right now.
@sneaky-ninja is a very responsible bot. This is simply slander to hide all of his ill gotten gains.
Well, the sad part is that it doesn't matter - the cat has fire power and can act as a bully (a bit like the orange-haired guy with a big red button). Therefore, when in doubt, one is better off avoiding the sneaky-ninja and aksdwi bots - why take a risk with the cat ?
There is this African proverb I like a lot: "When elephants do battle, it is the grass that gets trampled ..."
As the cat's paws spread damage and respected members of the community (such as @teamsteem) advise, even if implicitly, not to mess with the cat, I suppose you'll see less and less bids on the sneaky ninja bot ... why take risks with my hard-earned SBD if the boost from sneaky ninja attracts the attention of the cat ?
So probably you'll be better off re-configuring your bot to not allow bids for articles older than 3,5 days just as the cat wants ...
Or you can sue the cat ... yeah, I thought so ...
I get your point.
Just giving you the real info is all.
And yes, with proper identity I could sue him actually. So could many others.
Going to 3.5 days actually takes the abuse responsibility off of bot owners and puts it directly onto the community who do not have the manpower to stop it.
It basically makes all those compliant look good while the problem is still rampant and nothing is being done about it.
If I follow you, you should then be able to explain how does sneaky-ninja avoid funding spam and abuse ?
What steps do you take to prevent people publishing crap articles and then paying the sneaky-ninja bot to upvote them ?
If you can explain that credibly maybe even the cat will stop doing what he does ?
Ya know, I thought that to but it never mattered. Most of what I do to combat it is behind the scenes. However I have made several things public. Here are 2 big steps with plenty more to come:
1,2
Last minute upvotes by bid bots today = 0
Source
Grumpycat self-votes today =577.05
Note: These are only the stats for today (as of the time I started writing this comment) and only for last day voting, not the full 3.5.
Also, I don't seem to have the ability to decline payout on my current interface. Upvoting for visibility.
https://steemit.com/@jorlenbolivar/streetphotography-contest-by-juliank-service-station
This one was paying out in 20 hours when your wrote that.
Who cares about 6th day? 2nd day is the commonly accepted max age to limit abuse, 3.5 days was the compromise.
You can stop saying "Upvoting for visibility.", that's the assumed default use for SteemPower.
@grumpycat You make my eyes water, I don't know if it's dander or laughter. Either way seeing your grumpy little face makes me smile.
Apparently you do.
...
I would say it's a secondary use. The first being to claim funds from the reward pool...which is not my intent.
GrumyCompliance is at 3.5 days, no need to let us know of 6th day+ purchases. The reason I'm focusing on 6th day bots right now is just a matter of priority. I'll get to all of them above 3.5 days.
Ok, grumpy. I feel sorry for you a little bit.
I'll stop focusing on the last day votes, but you have to take out that part about the "last hours before payout" and the 99% abuse rate. If you don't want to discuss it, you shouldn't bring it up.
I understand what you're trying to do, and I respect it, but I still feel that you're going about it the wrong way. Your actions necessitate a resistance even if your cause is commendable. Steemians need to take on some responsibility to clean this place up without the help of whales and steemit Inc. Or Steem Inc. Whichever it is. Unfortunately, in order to do so, we need a large portion of the large community to understand this. Sadly, I don't see it happening.
I'll continue to support efforts to reverse the damage that you do, but overall, I hope that you succeed in bringing about a freedom mind-state.
You can stop talking ChumpyShit, that's the assumed default use for assholes like you.
By the way. You look a lot like @sneak to me. Family ties?
Commonly accepted by who exactly?
Well Grumpy that is kinda a major spanking. Just a warning would certainly do it for me.
I really love what your doing, but the flag is probably overkill on the first occurrence, since I was not aware of this and I bet most others are not either.
I hope you will reconsider your approach, I believe the warning will be just as effective if not more so.
Many blessings!
I do now and many more people do as well!
Thank you for removing the flag! This was of course a a welcome surprise and it will serve your mission just as effectively.
I had put this in the body of the article, when it was first written.
Disclaimer -- I am still very new to Steemit and have plenty to learn myself!
And then added:
As in this lesson just learned from @grumpycat -- Don't bid on bots that bid on posts more than 3 days old. Grumpy will seek you out and take a chunk of SBD back from you and all the curators!
We are all learning!
Many blessings!
Here, I wrote a guide to using @grumpycat correctly. Mind you there are a lot of names in the post you should also look up at the bottom. They are all doing their part to fight vote buying.
https://steemit.com/delegation/@erodedthoughts/defend-yourself-against-grumpycat
Sneaky Ninja does not fund spam or abuse in anyway and is in no way irresponsible. This cat is simply a theif, stealing your money as well as so many others. Not to mention raping the reward pool heavily in the process. This rule of his is not real. It is simply his way of covering up the massive reward pool rape he is conducting on our platform.
In fact, if you would like to see what steps Sneaky Ninja has taken to fight bid bot abuse see this post and this post. There is also much more being done behind the scenes right now.
@sneaky-ninja is a very responsible bot. This is simply slander to hide all of his ill gotten gains.
Thank you for your comment.
There is no doubt he has lost the respect of the platform by using this so called problem to enrich himself so blatantly.
I appreciate your feedback and my guess is the movement to DE-claw the cat will eventually be entirely successful.
Blessings!
😂😂😂😂😂😂👍⚡♨️
Thank you everyone for the great support!
This post in now 12 on the "Trending" for Steemit.
Moved up to 8 on the top trending for Steemit
9 hours in we are at #6 on Trending in Steemit --- Thank you!
9.5 hours we are on the main top 12 Trending list -- Thank you Everyone!
PLEASE NOTE: This article was promoted in the manner described above in the post and the fire was started via bid-bots used during the first few hours only. It may not have reached that spot without these paid for votes! And of course that is what this article was all about. Its performance after the initial bids is entirely up to the community. I certainly hope you have found this discussion to be fully transparent and educational. It is not meant to be secretive or some form of advertisement. I believe it information at its core.
This is terrible advice.
You bought this slot. This article isn't where it is because it's popular.
Why don't you tell these folks exactly how much money you spent, in US dollars, to purchase this slot?
You're misleading people into voting for an advertisement when they could be out voting for minnows who could actually use the attention to help get started. When was the last time you paid Wal-mart for dropping a flyer off in your mail box? Never...
Do you see any experienced members, aside from one who actually sells the votes, congratulating you? Majority of the comment section is more of your advertising.
Most people are finding these bots are a waste of time and money.
I prefer to compare them to crack cocaine in this post. That post has well over 100 more views than your post, currently. I didn't buy a vote.
Why buy votes, when votes are free?
Have a nice day.
Edit.
You added this to your comment after I responded.
If you're using promotion bots, that makes your post paid programming, an advertisement. There's no way around that.
Thank you this thoughtful reply.
The entire basis of this article is to show how paying for advertisement can indeed bring your post a lot of visibility. I have achieved that and been very forward in my use of bid-bots. I believe quality articles can achieve a positive return via bid-bots as is the case of this one.
I personally would like to see these bots "outlawed" on the platform, but until they are not, then everyone needs to know how to use them.
Please see the report I do on this subject. Many very large players use the bots to get their articles in top positions, this is how I came to fully understand these dynamics.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@bycoleman/bid-bot-activity-report-02-12-18-for-previous-7-days-who-s-paying-the-most-to-promote-their-articles
I firmly believe advertisements, like the post above, should be removed from trending tab and placed under the promoted tab. As soon as these bots are detected, a small icon should appear next to headline to warn people they are about to read advertising.
Just because they sell crack, that doesn't mean we need to buy it and smoke it.
Yes, they've been misleading the public for a long time.
When I see minnows spending their first $15 SBD on these bots because of these misleading claims about how the bots are supposed to help them instead of powering it up, it's easy to see there's something wrong with this picture. That's $83 US dollars today that they could have powered up for profits down the road being handed over to a middle man for no reason other than superficial nonsense. Many of them don't get more views and votes. It's the content of the post that gets those, not the money beside it.
For instance. You bought this slot high up on trending. You won't say how much you spent, but I know it's in the high hundreds. This post gives me no reason to follow you. Why would I be interested in placing ads on my feed? There's no blog here to follow, no blogger, no personalized touch, no entertainment value. Sorry if I sound like Simon Cowell, but this blog simply won't make it to the next round for me.
These new members want to attract high powered free votes. Maybe I have one of those. I like to use it. No amount of money beside a post can influence me to think, "If there's money there, the blogger must be good." It has to be interesting, to me. That's how you get more views and votes. Those are free.
People need to earn the attention they need in order to be successful here. That sort of attention can't be bought. If I offered a ten spot to be my friend, would you take it and be my friend? ...come on. I don't need friends that bad.
P.S. I did find this post to be humorous when you started thanking everyone in the comments for "success", after you clearly bought the slot. That part was hilarious.
Thank you again for the thoughtful reply.
I really agree, I think you have a great idea. I also would like to see all posts that have used bid-bots to be flagged as such. I think it would help the platform tremendously.
With that said, I can tell you that some of the most respected names use the bots vigorously and we both know that is true. I plan to continue to print the bid-bot report each week to identify the largest users and the payouts received. At this point, my bid-bot usage pales in comparison.
I think we all agree that steempress is a very useful entity. So is this advertisement? Last month, many thousands of SBD went to the bots from many respected entities.
The solution is to either get rid of them or to know how to use them properly.
I vote to get rid of them, but until then I will continue to promote what I think are quality articles that educate.
Here is an article I wrote recently that I did not promote aggressively. I believe it is highly informative and very useful to the community. If I had promoted it more, than more people would have this info.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@bycoleman/where-does-all-the-money-come-from-on-steemit-fully-answered-will-it-continue-yes
I very much appreciate your feedback on this and I actually believe we agree more than you think.
Let's work together to find a real solution!
Indeed it is an advertisement.
Steempress could be useful to thousands of people, that's true. There's nothing wrong with promoting it. That's how this business works.
Those thousands of people should be encouraged and eager to vote, for free. Meanwhile, those thousands of people can then use steempress and have a fair shake at true trending status because the ads were placed in the correct location and labelled as such.
Nobody loses money if things are put where they belong. We don't see ads in the trending section of Facebook, or anywhere else, for a reason. They're always kept separate, even on television. The ads still get hits.
Everyone stands a chance to earn more if it's done properly. Advertisers or someone who needs to promote something can buy STEEM. Place ads on blogs. Pay blogs ad revenue with STEEM for those hits. Then, even those who aren't fortunate enough to be able to generate ad revenue still benefit if they're holding STEEM.
Do it right, everyone wins. Investors, witnesses, developers, bloggers, advertisers. All of them.
Please see the revision at the end of the post. You made a very useful point about showing what it cost.
The "Thank you for your support" was meant to be exactly how you read it--- A full example of what the bids bots do and also how authors react to their new success and followers. I do not believe I can be more transparent.
I'm not questioning your integrity. I just have a habit of finding things funny. No fault of yours.
I really thank you for taking the time to articulate your view points on this subject. I hope the readers of this post will also see this discussion and find it to be as informative and useful to the overall subject on bid-bots as I have. I'm sure the platform will need to more fully develop a standard that can be used by all.
Many blessings!
14 in the "Hot" list, a few seconds after the bid-bot vote went through. It does work folks!
#4 On the top trending list for Steemit.
Would have been higher except Grumpy cat decided it is not well to use Sneeky-nina. So, everyone -- I would recommend making sure you choose bots that do not bid on posts older than 3 days.
Thanks for the tips! Very helpful!
Excellent, glad you found it helpful.
Have a blessed day!
Hi @bycoleman!
Thank you so much for this very detailed and informative post you have published.
I haven`t done this strategy and now, I know why I do not have much exposure and lose profits in every post I promoted. Not only that the bidding bots I used, reached a negative ROI, but also my posts are not the quality ones to be on the hot section.
Your post inspired me to put more time in writing my posts and not to focus much on how much the bots would upvote me.
Again, thank you @bycoleman. :)
Until then!
Thank you for the great reply. I am very happy to know this post might help you see higher awards.
Information is always key.
Hope you can resteem this post.
Many blessings and much success!
Oh! Sorry! I thought I upvoted and resteemed it. :)
Now, it`s done. :)
See you around!
It's a very good breakdown of how to use the bid-bots. A positive ROI is quite difficult to achieve as many bots seem to get a slew of last minute votes. I've found that the large bots almost always give negative ROI, but smaller bots can give a positive return. The downside there is that you have to use many smaller bids, which is time consuming.
Yes, you are exactly correct. I generally assume the bigger bots will net a small loss, but I really don't mind if I think in the end I'll get enough total votes from other users to make it a great investment.
I've upvoted you, please consider resteeming this if you think it is worthy!
That's generally the mindset I take as well. It's also a possibility that the ROI turns positive if Steem/SBD is trending higher. Like now. Though 7 days is an eternity in crypto.
You got the math down pat!
7 days, even 7 hours, :)
@bycoleman
Hi thank you enlightening us about the use of bid bots and its profitability. It is clear now that it is widely use by those who are willing to invest.
I realized that it is profitable in a sense that we are able take back the SBD invested plus steem power.
Would it be much better than buying steem power directly and reap the profits by curation and selling votes?
That is a great question!
It can be VERY profitable to lease SBD and then using it for curating or selling votes but in the long run, in order to build a large following, you really need to have created some quality articles yourself.
I do not believe it is one or the other tool, but a continuous application of everything that is available and within your means.
Thank for that intellectual advice. Im still weighing things on how and where to invest in SBD. More success to your post.
Thank you and to yours as well!
Just continue spreading your good views on steemit for it is like a bible for us minnows.
Great post. Excellent guidance for all the steemians.
Resteemed.
Followed you for more interesting posts. Upvoted
Thank you @realsteemian, I really appreciate the kind words and of course the Resteem!
I'll try to keep them coming.
@bycoleman outstanding review of how to increase votes! Thank you for sending a bit through my voting bot just now!
Your very welcome Jerry!
Keep up the fine work you do for Steemit!
Just got online. Another great post from you brother, i am still always amazed with your post. Very detail, constructive and always informative. You become the light for other community members in understanding one of the important part of the platform. Some will be bothered by your article, but mostly are behind you. Because, fact is almost everyone used the approach and you bring them information they need on how to used it to their best interest. Well done, this article is worth to be a trending, resteem it. Hope it reach the higher place possible. Look forward for you next breaking through, on shaping community members understanding on how to work best with the platform.
Thank you very kindly @rencong -- I am humbled by your reply.
I do think that everyone should at least know about ALL of the tools that are available so that there is a level platform for all. It is yet unfortunate that many cannot take advantage of these tools for they have not the funds to prime the pump. I would therefor prefer if the entire bid-bot and boosting system be extinguished, but until it is not, I will do what I can do educate.
Have a very blessed day!
I am with you, everyone need to know every little thing that exists in the platform, so to decide what to do with that. If there are some think that this is not right, they should aim at questioning it's existence rather than blaming people discussing about it. So, again I believe many will consider what you do is worth for them, particularly those with limited knowledge to access it themselves. Then your article is like a sun for them. Keep doing what you are doing, and if you happen to found something else, that many might not know about it, or know it but have no idea how to utilize it to it full potential. Don't hesitate to share it. As you said it has to be level for everyone, regardless they will used it or not. I was thinking to even translate your article to my respective language, as I believe there are still many that will benefit from your article, as it stands now (where all of those things are exist), but couldn't look at it for the language barrier reason. But, it's only a thought, though. In the end, this is considered as a good deeds, there is no rules have been broke up, right?
Hey my friend, I believe Steemit is all about transparency. I am being about as transparent as I can possibly be and I believe in the long run, most people will cherish truth and openness.
This article did well because it was a decent article AND I promoted. Had I not promoted it, it may not have been seen.
Feel free to translate it (I would summarize the 3 parts) and post it on your blog. Hope it will serve many.
Well that's great and very kind of you, once it's there, I will make sure transfer it to my respective language. I have no doubt about transparency in steemit, even I have to admit this is the most transparent platform exist, which that why you have all the right to do what you are doing now, without being afraid of breaking the rules. Because telling people what are exists and not proposing for things to be available. Firm yourself to keep carry-on.
Thank you!
Upvoted and following based on the replies you gave to "the pissed off cat" or "the cat who shall not be named for fear of hammer of wrath upon the namer". Best of luck in your Steemit journey.
SDG
Thank you my friend, yes the cat took 40 SBD I believe and then paid himself 91 SDB for the remark he left behind. Not sure this is the best example for the platform.
Thanks for the follow and reply!
Many blessings!
Great post! I have been following all your posts in this series. This info is very valuable to the community. Keep up the good work. upvoted/resteemed
Craig
Hey Craig, good to hear from you!
I am pleased to find so many people finding it useful. I'll will certainly keep on digging!
Thanks for the upvote and resteem. I really appreciate the support!
Thank you bycoleman for making a transfer to me for an upvote of 40.69% on this post!
Half of your bid goes to @budgets which funds growth projects for Steem like our top 25 posts on Steem!
The other half helps holders of Steem power earn about 60% APR on a delegation to me!
For help, will you please visit https://jerrybanfield.com/contact/ because I check my discord server daily?
To learn more about Steem, will you please use http://steem.guide/ because this URL forwards to my most recently updated complete Steem tutorial?
Thank you so much @bycoleman for the informative details, i actually bid for boomerang in my every post as ling as i have sp in my wallet and it really helps to increase my vote count.
More power!
Love,
@micch
Thank you. Yes, boomerang has worked well for me as well.
Hope you'll resteem this.
Many blessings!
Your post is really informative. I am a new Steemian and I have been wondering how things works here (after several time investment to write an article, yet it attracted less readers and upvoters). It was really frustrating and I was about giving up on Steemit, I paused and remembered the words of Jack Ma;
Thank you for taking your time to unravel the secrets. Thumb up.
There is information to be a complete head note. I read it, I read it again. Thanks for your effort.. @bycoleman
Thank you. I will re-read it again to see what I left out.
Glad it was of value.
Thanks for following along!
Steemians for people is a real guide to new members and very clear. I'm lucky to get to know you 👍 Thanks again @bycoleman
Thanks for the break down. I have been trying to figure out the real value and it really feels like I am paying for promotion and not getting value. I really don't see very much monetary value to the bots. I tried a post with multiple bots and still got no attention. Honestly not sure how to make a difference. The worst part is many of these bots clutter up your post with announcements of their wonderful vote. The funny part of it is we see new people come onto steemit all the time with what feels like sub par content and getting crazy amounts of votes and rewards. I can see how many good content providers might get frustrated and walk away from the platform. I'd personally be happy just knowing someone other than myself was seeing the post. If my post has 10 views it's because I looked at it 8 times. lol
You are so correct.
Personally I would like all of the promotional tools to be outlawed by the community, but since they are not, then using them correctly and often can allow you to see a greater return.
The more people that use them, the less voting power there will be for the abuser's to use them exclusively.
This is an awesome article man literally speaking inlost alot of my SBD using bid-bots i was never able to understand the calculation of the bid-tracker and taking in consideration all this i used to get less amount than inused to bid i wasnt able to understand what is happening to it but now i got andd it and hope i will rock bid-bots now i will ride on the back of those bots to whome i lost my sbd as their curation reward. Thank you once more for this help and such agreat quality content @bycoleman
Thank you for this great reply. I am very pleased to find that something I wrote has such value.
Knowledge is power, use it wisely and reinvest in yourself always.
Once again @bycoleman, thanks for the awesome post!! I read every letter of it and it helped me tremendously.
Resteemed for own personal needs :) (so i can re-read it again and again) and hopefuly to help you out with my plankton power :)
Thank you for taking the time and what seems like a great effort to educate us on the things that matter.
Thank you my friend for these kind words. I love hearing this was of value and might help others to do well here.
Write with passions and take your time, enjoy it, then promote it if you know it should be a winner.
Much success!
Yeah i will definitely try it out later on, once I get a bit of SBD or Steem.
I do try to write with passion, I actually takes me several days to write one post (and not because I am lazy :)) , I try to much a lot of effort in every one of them...but you know, probably screaming the post out of my window would attract more listeners then my posts currently do on steemit.
But i guess as you said, its all about writing with passion, enjoying it....and perhaps feeding some bots a coin or two ;)
Wish you the same my friend, and looking forward to read some of your other posts.
You're going to do very well in the long run. You have the perfect attitude, just hang in there and your day will come.
Many blessings!
Thank you my friend, ill will try to do my best, and not fall to dispair :)
Love the bot!
upvoted. helpful post. thanks
Nice
Had used steembottracker some time ago, but didn't get this perspective
Thanks for sharing
👍👍
Hope it help everyone to breakout of the minnow pool!
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STOPThis post give information of your upvoting worth and in detail it shows the bidding basic principals to get best ROI of your bids. Will follow your upcoming posts@bycoleman
Thank you!
Your post was worth reading, will see your upcoming posts, hope to read some more valuable stuff.
Thanks, I will do my best not to let you down!
Hello hello...a new question : how can I deal with this Bandwidth cause it s killing me .. who can explain to me how it works? because i have to stay with my eyes on https://steemd.com/@laviniatherapist to see when I can make a move ... it s frustrating .. a lot! Thank you !
Leaving comments asking for votes, follows, or other self promotional messages could be seen as spam.
Your Reputation Could be a Tasty Snack with the Wrong Comment!
Thank You! ⚜
Hi, @laviniatherapist
The only way to solve the problem is by "Powering Up" which is to add more SP into your Steem power.
The more SP you have the more active you can be. There is a point at which you have way more than you need, but add what you can and see how it works for you.
Blessings!
Of course it's really very informative post uploaded by you!!! Actually I'm new in steemit and I have to learn more.
I upvoted and resteemit your article.
Thanks for the especially ((Disclaimer -- I am still very new to Steemit and have plenty to learn myself!
As in this lesson just learned from @grumpycat -- Don't bid on bots that bid on posts more than 3 days old. Grumpy will seek you out and take a chunk of SBD back from you and all the curators!))
Very glad to know this was a useful post and welcome to Steemit.
Yes, I actually had read about the 3 day GrumpyCat "compliance", but had neglected to carefully check the bot before I bid. It was an expensive mistake, hopefully learned only once and hopefully all those who have read this will not have to make.
Many blessings!
Super duper Info for newby like me. Thanks a lot. Resteemed !!
Thank you and welcome to Steemit!
Thanks @bycoleman for this eye opener article would definitely give it a trial. Cant wait to write new article to get more $ for myself
Write with passion and it will show!
Many blessings!
I think we studied this kind of math in school...probabilities or something like...still i have to read your article again..and again...and test it
Yea, I'm still fuzzy from it all.
Warm regards,
please voteback ..
thanx
Hello Helloe ... very useful, i use the bots since the first week here, and my wallet it`s increasing... maybe you will find this interesting...my first video here
https://steemit.com/life/@laviniatherapist/b0lf4o5l
Yes, they are very effective!
I'll check it out as soon as I can. Thanks.
Amazing @bycoleman
Thank you and have a blessed day!
I really appreciate your work as I am trying to understand how steemit works. Well done mate, you have a new follower and I have to read through your text over again ;)
Thank you, I love to hear I have a new follower!
Be sure to start with part #1 in the series, as MB is possibly the most useful tool to get started with.
Thanks again for you post. Some great info here. I'll have to go over this again as I am finding it hard to pick up. Never used any bots before.
There not really that hard to use, but don't use any bot that has a max post age greater than 3.5 days.
I would try out MB first if you have not already done so.
I'll keep that in mind about the 3.5 days, thanks. I think its just the fact that I'm new and there just seems like there is so much info on the Steemit platform to rap my head around.
I will defo try the MB tomorrow, nice one.
Have a great evening!
Same to yourself.
Thank you @bycoleman I should have tried this too.
This way my post can now be noticed by others in the platform.
God Bless . Hope for your success
Yes, write a quality article then promote it if you are able.
Many blessings!
Thanks for making the effort to construct this article. it really helps out.
Thanks for youryour information
Thank you.
You got a 5.55% upvote from @postpromoter courtesy of @bycoleman!
Want to promote your posts too? Check out the Steem Bot Tracker website for more info. If you would like to support the development of @postpromoter and the bot tracker please vote for @yabapmatt for witness!
This post has received a 8.02 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @bycoleman.
This post has received gratitude of 5.35 % from @appreciator thanks to: @bycoleman.
This post has received a 1.33 % upvote from @morwhale thanks to: @bycoleman.
Sneaky Ninja Attack! You have been defended with a 27.28% vote... I was summoned by @bycoleman! I have done their bidding and now I will vanish...Whoosh
You've got our team services. [@steemsoul--@rayhanahmed--@shahanasayan--@raselhossain] Thanks for using our service.
Bilgi için teşekkürler iyi şanslar
Many blessings!
Thanks for this great post I learned a lot from it just followed you 👍⚡♨️
Thank you.
No prob
Good
When you copy/paste or repeatedly type the same comments you could be mistaken for a bot.
Tips to avoid being flagged
Thank You! ⚜
Thank you.
This is too much read, thank you for the help though.
I try.
Many blessings!
you are nice @bycoleman
Thank you!
This is interesting! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for stopping by!
Nice one bro.
Thank you.