3 Cheat Sheets To Help You Create Your At-A-Glance Resources

These are usually one-page documents that include tons of information but little or no specific detail about the information in the cheat sheet. To help you get started, I’ve created three Cheat Sheets that explain…

• How to use them in your business.
• What types of information to include?
• And how they’re formatted.

Take a look…

SIDE–NOTE: Because this is a text-based training document and not a designed “Cheat Sheet,” the content will be presented consistently with the course as a whole… So, each Cheat Sheet presented won’t be contained on a single page.

CHEAT SHEET #1: HOW TO USE CHEAT SHEETS

How to put a cheat sheet to work for your business? – check out these ideas…

Use Cheat Sheets As Preselling Content

You can promote a variety of products with cheat sheets, including…

• Courses
• Guides/tutorials
• Membership sites
• Tools (e.g., checklists, planners, etc.)
• Videos
• Reports/E-books
• Software
• Physical product

You can distribute these preselling cheat sheets in a variety of ways…

• Post them on your blog
• Tweet out a link on Twitter
• Share them on Facebook
• Send them to your mailing list
• Offer them as lead magnets to new list subscribers
• Include a link at the end of a guest blog
• Mention them in your videos
• Place a link on thank you / download pages
• Ask your joint venture partners to distribute them
• Mention them in a podcast

Utilize Cheat Sheets as Supplemental Material

You can offer cheat sheets as bonuses, adding value to paid products. For example…

• Design some cheat sheets summarizing each lesson in a course.
• Offer the same for each chapter in a tutorial.
• Provide a set for each step of a process to go with a coaching course.
• Create a set of cheat sheets for each process step to go with a coaching course.
• Create some for the most impactful tips and ideas for a membership site.
• Send one with each lesson in a fixed-term membership site.

TIP: Even if you’re offering a cheat sheet to go with a paid product, you can still embed another product recommendation within its folds.

Example…

The paid product is a diet guide. So, you offer a bonus cheat sheet packed with tips and ideas. The cheat sheet promotes a meal-planning app.

Offer Cheat Sheets as Handouts

• Give them to webinar participants.
• Hand them out at a local talk.
• Offer them to booth visitors at an expo.
• Leave them on local bulletin boards.
• Give them to participants in local meet-ups.

A good cheat sheet is helpful yet incomplete, making it suitable for preselling or supplemental material along with other content. You can provide excellent help for your audience this way while pointing them to paid products for additional help.

CHEAT SHEET #2: TYPES OF INFO TO INCLUDE IN CHEAT SHEETS

Good cheat sheets are packed with various types of valuable information. Check out these ideas and examples…

Info to Include in a Cheat Sheet

Steps, Tips, Examples, Mistakes, Ideas, Swipes, Checklists, Templates, Dos and Don’ts, Questions, Alternatives, and Lists.

Note: There are a variety of lists you can provide. For example…

• Way lists.
• Gear lists.
• Resource lists.
• “Best of” tips lists.
• Shopping lists.
• Ingredient lists.
• Substitutions list (e.g., Use Y if you don’t have X).

Niche Examples

Steps: Share a list of five steps for setting up a Facebook campaign.

Templates: Provide a list of headline templates for copywriters.

Questions: Offer a list of “questions to ask” before plotting a thriller novel.

Ideas: Give homeschoolers a list of ideas for lesson plans.

Lists: Provide a gear list for people training for an ultra-marathon.

Dos and Don’ts: Share this list with people starting a diet.

Mistakes: Typical home-buying mistakes that cost people time and money.

Where To Get Information

Here are different ways to gather the information for your cheat sheet…

• Brainstorm talking points
• Pull the information directly from a larger piece of your content.
• Ask the audience what sort of content they want.
• Check Niche blogs.
• Browse niche social media pages.
• Pull ideas from tables of content from popular products.
• Google search.
• Create a cheat sheet out of PLR content.
• Pull ideas from niche videos on YouTube.

Examples of Google searches you can do to uncover information for your cheat sheet…

• Best ways to [do some specific thing]
• [Niche topic] tips
• Best software for [getting a result]
• How to [complete a specific task]
• Steps for [completing a task]
• [Niche topic] hacks

Creating cheat sheets is excellent for presenting LOADS of information to your readers. And it’s more helpful if you provide “variety” like above.

CHEAT SHEET #3: HOW TO FORMAT CHEAT SHEETS

You’ll want to create a great impression with your cheat sheets, so formatting is essential. Check out these tips and ideas…

Layout and Design for Your Cheat Sheets

• Break your cheat sheet into three to five significant parts.
• Insert descriptive headlines for each section.
• Insert bulleted list beneath headings, where appropriate.
• Use short sentences.
• Utilize icons next to crucial points.
• Insert tips and examples where appropriate.
• Provide “Variety.”

TIP: Either design a template to reuse for all your cheat sheets or hire a designer.

Hire a Designer

As with all tasks needed for your business, you can hire someone else to do the work for you. Here are some places to look for your designer…

• Search Google.
• Ask your social media network for recommendations.
• Post on a freelancing site like Fiverr.com or Upwork.com.
• Ask for help on business forums and groups.
• Blog about your need for a designer.
• Send out a request to your mailing list.
• Ask me, I’ve considerable resources in my library for hiring freelancers.
  • Or…Go > HERE <

Due diligence is a pre-requisite before hiring your designer…

• Check their design portfolio.
• Review their freelancing site ratings.
• Search for their name/business name in Google.
• Compare their pricing.

Make the Most of Your Cheat Sheet

• Embed your logo into your cheat sheet.
• Use your brand’s color.
• Include a relevant link and call to action.
• Encourage users to print it.
• Make sure it looks great when printed.
• Ensure it looks good on all devices.

A quality cheat sheet not only provides helpful information… it looks good too!