Getting a good review in AppAdvice completely changed the fortunes of my app, especially because after that Apple started noticing it too.

However, AppAdvice is one of the biggest review sites out there, and reviews on smaller sites didn't have anywhere near as much impact. Also, getting that review was really lucky, and I haven't been able to recreate that magic since.

That said, as a single-person developer, I've found that I need to spend as much time and energy on hustle and promotion as I do on development and testing - and even with that I've only been moderately successful.