Photography: Cheat? by Pperinik

A cheat sheet is a single page one-stop reference you’ve probably only ever encountered in your high-school math class. Web developer Dave Child, however, has created cheat sheets on a variety of techie topics like CSS, RGB Hex Colors and World of WarCraft. They all have one thing in common, though: they’ve each been traffic magnets.

In this post, I want to discuss how cheat sheets can be created for any topic. I’ll also explore why they’re so attractive to social networking sites, and how you can ensure your own cheat sheets are launched with the best chances of social networking success.

What’s a web cheat sheet?

A cheat sheet is a single-page reference with an emphasis on simplicity and necessity. The space is limited so you want to express each bit of information as succinctly as possible. You also want to include the most essential information first, and information that will continue to be useful through frequent use. A cheat sheet should be a reference the owner keeps coming back to.

For inspiration, I suggest you look at the cheat sheets here. I’ve also provided a few hypothetical cheat sheets below.

• A beginner’s cooking cheat sheet containing definitions of common cooking terms, a quick reference for measuring systems, a tip on how to dice an onion, a quick-reference guide to common kitchen utensils and their uses.
• A beginner’s chess cheat sheet listing where the pieces should be set-up and how they move.
• A cheat sheet containing keyboard short-cuts for a software program or game.
• A traveler’s cheat sheet for a particular country listing key tourist destinations, tips on local custom, how to say key phrases, a rough guide to currency conversion and a list of emergency numbers.

Are they effective?

There are plenty of selling points for cheat sheet content, both to ordinary readers and social bookmarking sites.

• They’re a useful, concise reference with a lot of information in one place.
• They’re highly bookmarkable, because people will return to a good cheat sheet again and again.
• They’re an under-utilized form of content and therefore have an element of novelty.
• ‘Cheat sheet’ implies that having the content will make the reader better at something.

How are they made?

Before you begin to think of formatting, you need to decide what kind of cheat sheet you’re going to create and what information you’re going to include.

For inspiration, think of the resources you yourself keep coming back to, the bits of information you regularly need but tend to forget and have to revisit, or the simple tips and tricks you’ve used within your topic.

Beginner cheat sheets are also a great idea. Which facts, definitions, tips and resources should a beginner in your topic be familiar with?

If you’re having trouble thinking of a cheat sheet for your topic I’d like to help you in the comments section of this post.

Formatting

Now you need to present your information. They key point to remember is that a cheat sheet should fit on one page. You can be more inventive with your layout (a long and thin piece of paper, for example) but keep the information equivalent to what would fit on an A4 sheet of paper. This will keep your writing concise and your information essential.

You can present your cheat sheet as a printable image, .PDF or document. If you decide to make an image, make sure it’s not too big to fit on an A4 page or your readers won’t be able to print it easily.

When laying out the content try to keep the information neat and clear. Group related items next to each other and, if possible, surround each section with a border. If your cheat sheet looks like a jumble of words thrown on a page it’s not performing its purpose. Ease of use is key.

Lastly, don’t forget to include a reminder of where the cheat sheet is from. You might include your website URL, logo, your name, or all three. Not only does this remind users where they found this great resource but it serves as a watermark to prevent people stealing your cheat sheet and distributing it as their own. Keep in mind that a cheat sheet in document format is the easiest to plagiarize.

Start networking

Make it easy for your visitors to submit to social networks by including buttons or a closing sentence with a submit link — for example: “If you liked this, please spread the world by [social network]ing it.”

If your site is new and your cheat sheet isn’t getting readers then don’t be afraid to submit your own content to social networks (apparently, it’s OK). I’d suggest giving it a simple name — ‘#Topic cheat sheet’ (Surfing cheat sheet, for example) and describing it as everything you’ll ever need to know about #topic, on one page. Feel free to experiment with your own titles and descriptions.

Share your work

If you create a cheat sheet please submit a link in the comments for this post. If we get a good collection together I’ll post a list of everyone’s creations in a future article.

Remember, if you need feedback or ideas feel free to ask me — I’ll get back to you before you know it.