Maximizing revenue is a simple process. Much simpler than maximizing for ROI.

The first step is to define the limits of your revenue maximization. This is critical. How much are you willing to spend to achieve your revenue goals.

Let's say you sell a widget for $50, it's your widget, you manufacture it. This gives you a lot of breathing room to maximize for revenue. Why? Because it's very likely that your direct costs (COGS) are at most 50% of sales. If you're selling digital content or software, it's much lower that this.

What does this mean for revenue maximization? It means that you have the flexibility to lose money on some keywords, chiefly, branding or name recognition keywords, because you make so much more on other, more specific keywords. This is a unique position to be in.

Those of you trying to maximize for revenue, with 10-15% sales margins had better be very careful about your bid prices and management. One slip and you could be losing money very quickly.

And then there's the "Maximize for traffic" crowd. This is great if you have gobs of cash to throw at a problem, however, I highly recommend that if you are that flush that you email me and I will provide you with my paypal address. I'm sure I can get you twice the traffic for the money..