In this post, reasons to use bots, timing strategy, and suggested amounts to send. Not in this post, lots of waffle and political stance regarding Bid-bots.
Are you a user? Just for recreational purposes eh? Or are you going cold-turkey? Or steering well clear of these pesky beasts? Love them or loath them, it seems the Bid-bots are here to stay, and new incarnations of a 'robot bidders' are appearing every couple of weeks at present.
There are generally two types of bid-bots. Ones that run on a 2.4 hour cycle and vote everyone who has sent money with a % of the total stake sent in the cycle. And those that will give you a vote almost instantly (or when next online/awake).
The variables on the size of the vote are your SBD contribution, the voting power of the bot, and in the case of the first type of bid-bot discussed above, the contributions of other users sending to the bot within the same voting window.
Why Bid-bot?
Although many are drawn to the Bid-bots for the extra payout potential, there are a couple of other reasons to consider using them. I would say the 3 main reasons/advantages for using vote boosting Bots are:
Cash: Time the memo correctly and send with the right stake and you will make a little
Promotion: Boost your post into 'Hot' for extra visibility
Reputation: The number in the circle next to your user id - warning, this may or may not equal 'actual' reputation as seen by Steemit.com members
For me, it's mainly about increasing percieved reputation, and moving that little number up next to 
I would say the cash returned from Bit-bot investment makes them profitable, but not hugely. And post promotion is tough, even if you have timed the the Bots bang on and spent big. A bigger fish, or 5, will come along shortly and knock you post out the front page, even if your post is awesome.
Bid-bot tactics
There are various web-pages to check out the bids a bot has received and when the Bot is next due to vote on posts it's been sent. These are okkk, but I think another option is to check the 'comments' and 'wallet' of each bot - here you can find out if it's a good time to send them SBDs, and calculate how much you should be sending.
All out promotion
One approach could be to throw all the Bots SBDs as soon as your new blog appears. E.g. 5 to
, 10 to booster, 5 to photobomb, 5 to bellyrub, amn then the rest with lower amounts (as suggested later). If you've checked that 
and 
have not 'commented' on a post for a few hours, they will be ready to vote in the next hour. It is possible to have all the above vote for your post in the first 20/30 minutes and send it to 'Hot' or 'Trending'. The negative here is that your blog may look 'cheap' or tacky with the comments section littered with Bots - I suspect this will put some potential voters off.
Additional votes later on
When your post is a few days old, it is likely to be recieving less hits and probably way down the list of your followers 'Home' page. Now could be the time to start adding the Bid-bot votes. The advantage here is that your comments section is not littered with auto-replies, and your votes will be able to gain more curation rewards due to the Bot votes following them.
Front-runners and 'Wallet' followers
Another potential bonus vote or is available on 2/3 of the bigger Bots. Some members of the community are using software to vote ahead of the bots, good for their curation rewards, and an addional vote for you. Check out https://steemit.com/@frontrunner for more details.
It's also possible to keep an eye on the Wallet of
and and 'frontrun' manually. Posts submitted to these bots with a 5-10-15 SBD sum might well be worth voting on, if the Bot hasn't got their first.
And now the Bid-bots
Profile: Send 0.500 Steem/SBD - URL as Memo
Owner:
Steem Power: 21,181.289 STEEM (+349,899.635 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 0.5
Voting time: Immediately
Notes: Check to see if @randowhale is sleeping or awake before voting
More information: Rando announcement
Profile: bids open every 2.4 hours. Ex: @Axe & @Bob both bid for the same voting batch. If @Axe bids 4 SBD and @Bob bids 2 SBD, @Axe will get 66.66% and @Bob 33% etc.
Owner: 
Steem Power: 7,900.118 STEEM (+655,394.992 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 3 - 15
Voting time: Up to 2.4 hours
Notes: Check 'Comments' for previous vote, don't send money when Bot is commenting
More information: How to use @booster
Profile: Send 1 SBD or more to get a part of the pie. Issues contact 
Owner:
Steem Power: 1,790.003 STEEM (+448,298.398 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 3 - 10
Voting time: Up to 2.4 hours
Notes: Check 'Comments' for previous vote, don't send money when Bot is commenting
More information: How does @bellyrub work in detail
Profile: Send SBD to bid for votes. Voting every 2.4 hours with 100%. 100% SBD-Payout to SP-delegators. Do you want to join us? Just delegate SP.
Owner:
Steem Power: 541.963 STEEM (+67,176.069 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 1 - 3
Voting time: Up to 2.4 hours
Notes: Check 'Comments' for previous vote, don't send money when Bot is commenting
More information: Boomerang White Paper
Profile: bids open every 2.4 hours. Ex: @A & @B both bid for the same voting batch. If @A bids 4 SBD and @B bids 2 SBD, @A will get 66.66% and @B 33% etc.
Owner:
Steem Power: 2,104.353 STEEM (+45,448.399 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 1 - 3
Voting time: Up to 2.4 hours
Notes: Check 'Comments' for previous vote, don't send money when Bot is commenting
More information: @minnowhelper FAQ
Profile: This is still Beta!
Owner:
Steem Power: 71,370.659 STEEM (+2,453,096.413 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 5 (5 SBD, 3 times a week is current limit)
Voting time: Instant
Notes:
More information: @minnowbooster bid limits
Profile: Vote Bot ONLINE : 2.4 hr bidding rounds, vote weight 0-100% at 100% power, 0.1 SBD suggested minimum bid, commenting disabled, no refunds , Hail Eris !
Owner: Eris? ha
Steem Power: 614.185 STEEM (+12,115.963 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 0.5 - 1
Voting time: Up to 1.2 hours (?)
Notes: Check 'Comments' for previous vote, don't send money when Bot is commenting
More information: [
Profile: PLANT TREES AND GET PAID FOR IT! 0.1 – 0.5 STEEM/SBD to 
Owner:
Steem Power: 541.650 STEEM (+9,051.356 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 0.1 - 0.3
Voting time: Up to 1.2 hours (?)
Notes:
More information: @personz / @treeplanter interiview
Owner:
Profile: Lovejuice is best shared between 2 or more people rather than simply sprayed all over yourself.
Steem Power: 450.432 STEEM (+12,060.771 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 0.1 - 0.3
Voting time: Up to 1.2 hours (?)
Notes:
More information:
Profile: Send SBD for matching upvote. Min to send: $1! Max to send: $15! All votes are manual, and human. I Comment, Upvote and Resteem your post.
Owner:
Steem Power: 276.885 STEEM (+128,812.642 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 2 - 5
Voting time: When owner is awake!
Notes: Check 'Comments' to see if owner is awake!
More information: @photobomb service details
Profile: ** Public Vote Bid Bot ** Minimum bid: 0.100 SBD, Vote weight: 50%, Vote interval: 1.2 hours. Current SP: ~23k
Owner:
Steem Power: 1,682.509 STEEM (+12,137.188 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 0.1 - 0.3
Voting time: Up to 1.2 hours
Notes:
More information:
Profile: Upgoat Good!
Owner:
Steem Power: 208.980 STEEM (+7,646.283 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 0.1 - 0.2
Voting time: Up to 1.2 hours (?)
Notes:
More information: Recent @upgoater publication
Profile: Bid at least 0.1 SBD and get a vote for 0%-100% with 100% voting power. Rounds last: 2.4 hours. All submissions considered for our Curation Digest
Owner:
Steem Power: 354.958 STEEM (+39,363.873 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 0.2 - 1
Voting time: Up to 2.4 hours
Notes:
More information:
Profile: SEND ANY AMOUNT TO GET AN UPVOTE EVERY 2.4HOURS
Owner:
Steem Power: 36,268.237 STEEM (+7,131.486 STEEM)
Suggested SBD to send: 0.2 - 1.5
Voting time: Up to 2.4 hours
Notes:
More information:
A few additional points
- Sometimes a Bot can fail to vote, when this has happened I've always received a refund (Thanks
, and
- Sending bots to others posts can be a nice way to share the love if you don't have a lot of Steem Power
- Using bots may discourage others from Voting for your post
- If you are the owner of a Bot above, or one that isn't listed then let me know!
- Opinions, questions, and corrections are very welcome!
- Yes, I will be using all the bots above on this post :p