SEM Consulting has joined our community — a consulting business led by a passionate advertiser and analyst with a clear vision: to help small and micro enterprises grow sustainably and long-term through smart advertising.

Behind it all is someone who has been following Split Tech City since the days of Open Coffee and is now actively contributing to our tech scene. Get to know him better through a few questions we asked.

Briefly about your business – what do you do, do you have an office or do you work from wherever suits you?

SEM Consulting is a specialized consulting business focused exclusively on Google Ads advertising for micro and small enterprises.

I help entrepreneurs increase relevant traffic to their websites, which results in higher sales of their products and/or services and long-term business growth.

Despite the narrow specialization in Google Ads, I always strive to take a holistic view of the overall situation.
I also offer business consulting – helping companies increase the LTV (lifetime value) of each client I bring them, ultimately improving their ROI (return on investment).

Although I prefer Google as a channel, I’m not short-sighted and always advise my clients not to rely solely on that one platform.

I currently don’t have an office — I work wherever there’s internet. I love remote work, but I also enjoy occasionally stopping by a coworking space.

Can you list some past projects and collaborations you’re most proud of?

I work with an international client (who’s been living in Croatia for some time) who offers party boat services, and we’ve been successfully collaborating for three years now.
I’d also highlight an American company that specializes in window tinting and installing protective film to preserve car value, located in the state of Indiana.

I managed to reduce their cost per conversion from $179 down to just $22.

The client already had running campaigns, but needed someone to take over and optimize them.

What technologies do you use in your work?

In addition to Google Ads, I also use the following tools:

– Google Analytics (for website visitor behavior tracking and analytics)
– Google Looker Studio (for creating reports)
– Microsoft Clarity (for recording visitor sessions)
– ChatGPT and Gemini (for data analysis, brainstorming ideas, and writing ad headlines and descriptions when creativity runs dry 🙂)
– Ubersuggest (for keyword research, website audits, and all things SEO)
– Google Workspace (Gmail, Drive, Meet, Docs, Sheets, etc.)

Do you plan to grow your team, are you looking for external collaborators?

I’d love to try expanding the team and running an agency.
I’m relatively new to entrepreneurship — I’ve been fully independent since November 2024, though I previously had a business while still employed, where I honed my craft.
I’d love to see what suits me better in the long run — leading a team or staying a solo entrepreneur. I’m still exploring and honestly don’t know what I’m ready for yet. 🙂

At the moment, I don’t have enough work to seriously consider outsourcing, but if I do, I’d first look for an external collaborator, and only then — if business picks up — hire someone full-time.
We’ll see, all in good time!

Why did you join the Split Tech City community?

I’ve been following the Split Tech City community since before its formal beginning — back when Open Coffee Splitexisted. I remember Toni Trivković showing me the first draft of the website.
I liked the community because of what they do — offering support, generously sharing knowledge, and most importantly, connecting the entire community in one place for the exchange of knowledge, experiences, collaboration, and inspiration.

Something like this didn’t exist ten years ago, and today we have meetups all over the place.
I’d say Toni created a kind of heartbeat that pulses within the Split tech scene, which is very important if Split — and Croatia — are to advance in the IT sector.

Connection is everything — without it, there’s nothing.

Miracles are possible when like-minded people are in the same room and freely share ideas.

Anything else you’d like to highlight?

Maybe I could highlight some of my visions.
I’d like Croatia to stop relying solely on tourism and invest more in the IT sector.
It’s not wise to put all your eggs in one basket — we need to build other sectors that can balance tourism.
I have nothing against tourism — it’s all needed and good — but it’s risky to depend entirely on one source of income.

I’d love to see Croatia develop in the direction of technology, where we already have great potential.

To encourage IT, so that smart and talented people stay here and big companies are built that employ local talent.

Split and Dalmatia have almost everything: sun, sea, fresh air, and good, healthy food. It’s a very pleasant place to live.

Every time I go to the beach, I’m reminded of that. Other people pay to come here — and we locals have it at our fingertips.

Now imagine if more jobs opened up and local companies emerged that could compete globally.
That would truly be a new Silicon Valley! And I’d love to contribute to that — through my own company or personally.
Maybe do something different in the field of advertising or other technologies, but for it to remain Croatian-made, not imported.

Maybe one day even compete with Google itself!
Hard — but not entirely impossible.
I strive for greater independence — both in business and at the sector level.
Diversification is key.