Being non-firewalled would help. If you're uploading to others it does in fact help all round. It helps in searches because you're already connected to others & their peers, & thus helps for downloads. I don't know what your connection setting is but try a T3 setting.

Also periodicall re-searching or using the advanced search options by right-clicking the search tab & choosing Find more results can help find more sources. The more sources the better. I also like to browse hosts as that can sometimes help connect to more hosts.