You probably know people who market to your same audience, but who aren’t competitors of yours. They have what would be called an industry-related, non-competing site. As you build your business you’ll want to keep track of websites such as these. You can use a spreadsheet to do this. There are many ways to take advantage of being involved and keeping aware of non-competing sites.

1. Stay Up-to-Date on Industry News – Any industry-related websites are great for getting news about the industry you’re involved in. Non-competing sites are full of opportunities since there is no worry about them taking your audience or vice versa. You can freely curate the information they share and share it with your audience, too.

2. Place Banner Ads to Run on the Site – Any non-competing site that allows ads that market to your audience is a good choice for placing any type of ad, including banner ads. Even if they do not have a link to place an advertisement, you can approach the site owner about putting a paid advertisement up. If you have an affiliate program, send them a free sample of your product and offer them a special affiliate deal.

3. Volunteer to Contribute Guest Blog Posts – Most website owners struggle to fill their online real estate with plenty of original, well written, engaging content. Give them an offer they cannot refuse by offering to send free original content in exchange for a bio with a link to your products and services.

4. Contribute to the Community Message Board – If the website has a message board, you should join it and becomWrite a White paper and Send It to the Site Ownere a regular contributor there. Ask and answer questions; share your expertise freely so that you can become part of that community.

5. Join Group Chats – Some websites will offer group chats, teleseminars, webinars, and so forth. If you can justify the time and expense, not only should you join but you should also put yourself forward as an expert speaker or panelist.

6. Monitor Their Use of Keywords – When a website markets to your audience, it is likely they are using keywords that will work for you too. Don’t mislead your audience if you don’t offer certain solutions, but check out the keywords so that you can evaluate whether or not they’ll work for you too.

7. Write a White paper and Send It to the Site Owner – A great way to introduce yourself to the site owner is to write and send them a white paper that explains a problem and solution that you solve and introduces them to your products and services.

8. Get to Know the Site Owner – If the website is especially well put together and the products and services offered are top-notch, find a way to get to know the site owner. Follow them on social media, join groups they’re part of and get to know them. Networking with people that you want to work with someday is a great strategy to grow your expertise.

9. Interview the Site Owner – Audio and video are excellent forms of content for your blog. Ask the site owner to allow you to interview them for your blog. You can do it with audio or video via Skype or Google Hangout. If they are uncomfortable with that, you can use just voice. You can even write the interview.

10. Create and Propose a Joint Venture Project – When you are known to the other individual and you’ve sufficiently shown them your work, and you’ve seen theirs, try to brainstorm a joint venture project you can work on then send them the proposal.

If you think of industry-related non-competing sites as complementary sites, it’ll be easier to understand what you’re looking for. You want to find business owners who market to the same audience as you do, but who do not directly compete with you because their product doesn’t replace yours.