G’day, Craig from SEO Empire here again.
A little while back I wrote the rookies guide to AI prompts, and the feedback was ripper — turns out heaps of you wanted the next step: actual prompts you can pinch and use today, no faffing about. So here it is. Fifty of them, sorted into the jobs a small business owner actually does every week.
I’ve kept this one strictly current. Claude’s moved fast in the last six months and a lot of “tips” floating around online are already out of date. Everything below works with Claude as it stands right now in 2026 — including the newer bits like Memory, Projects and Skills that genuinely change how useful this thing is for a busy business owner.
Grab a cuppa. Let’s go.
First — What’s Actually Changed In The Last 6 Months
Before the prompts, a quick lay of the land. If you tried Claude a year ago and wandered off, here’s what’s new — and why it matters for you, not for the tech crowd.
| When | What landed | Why you should care |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 2026 | Claude Cowork + remote MCP connectors | Claude can work on your actual files and plug into Gmail, Google Drive, Slack and Notion. |
| Mar 2026 | Memory on every plan, including Free | Claude remembers your brand voice and preferences between chats. Set it once, stop repeating yourself. |
| Q1 2026 | Skills for Excel, PowerPoint, Word & PDF | Claude builds real spreadsheets, slide decks and documents — not just text about them. |
| Apr 2026 | Claude Opus 4.7 | A 1-million-token memory for a single chat, high-resolution image reading, and far better attention to your instructions. |
| Apr 2026 | Claude Design | Generate slides, prototypes and marketing materials straight from a plain-English prompt. |
The short version: Claude went from “a chatbot that writes text” to “a thing that actually does the job and remembers you between visits”. That’s a big deal for a small team.
The Anatomy Of A Prompt That Works
Every good prompt I write has the same five parts. I covered this in the rookies guide, but here it is as a picture — print it out, stick it on the wall.
Stack those five together and you’ll get a usable answer almost every time. Leave bits out and you’ll get the bland, could-be-anyone rubbish that gives AI a bad name.
Which Claude Should You Use?
Claude comes in three sizes and picking the right one saves you time and money. Here’s the cheat sheet.
| Model | Reach for it when… | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 4.7 | Big, hard or long jobs — full strategy documents, reading a 100-page report, working through images. | Most considered, takes a touch longer. |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Your everyday workhorse — most blog posts, emails, captions and admin. | The sweet spot for 90% of business tasks. |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | Quick, simple, high-volume jobs — short replies, quick rewrites, tidy-ups. | Fastest, but not for heavy lifting. |
Rough speed-vs-grunt picture, if you’re a visual person:
Haiku ████████████
Sonnet ████████
Opus ████
Haiku ████
Sonnet ████████
Opus ████████████
The Top 50 Prompts
Right — the good stuff. Copy these straight out, swap the bits in [square brackets] for your own details, and away you go. I’ve grouped them so you can jump to what you need.
Content & Marketing (1–10)
| # | Copy-and-paste prompt |
|---|---|
| 1 | Blog draft. “Write a 700-word blog post about [topic] for [my type of business]. Friendly, plain-English, Australian spelling. H2 headings, finish with a call to action.” |
| 2 | Social captions. “Give me 10 Instagram captions for [product/service]. Mix of fun and informative. Each under 30 words, with 3 relevant hashtags.” |
| 3 | Newsletter. “Draft a monthly email newsletter for my customers covering [3 updates]. Warm tone, skimmable, one clear next step.” |
| 4 | Google Business Profile. “Write a 750-character Google Business Profile description for [business], [suburb]. Highlight [3 strengths]. Natural, not stuffed with keywords.” |
| 5 | Service descriptions. “Write a 120-word description for my [service]. Focus on the customer benefit, not the features. End with a reason to act now.” |
| 6 | Headline options. “Give me 15 headline options for [page/post]. Vary the angle — curiosity, benefit, question, how-to. Mark your top 3.” |
| 7 | Repurpose. “Turn this blog post into a LinkedIn post, an email, and 5 social captions. Keep the core message, change the tone for each. [paste post]” |
| 8 | Content calendar. “Build a 4-week content calendar for [business]. One blog topic and three social posts a week. Table format, with a content type for each.” |
| 9 | Ad copy. “Write 5 Google Ads variations for [service] in [suburb]. 30-character headlines, 90-character descriptions. Lead with the benefit.” |
| 10 | Match my voice. “Here are 3 samples of how my business writes. [paste] Now rewrite this draft in that same voice. [paste draft]” |
Customers & Sales (11–20)
| # | Copy-and-paste prompt |
|---|---|
| 11 | Tricky customer email. “Help me reply to this customer. They’re [unhappy about X]. Keep it calm, take responsibility where fair, offer a clear fix. [paste]” |
| 12 | Reply to a good review. “Write a warm, genuine reply to this 5-star Google review. Mention something specific they said. Under 50 words. [paste review]” |
| 13 | Reply to a bad review. “Draft a professional, non-defensive reply to this negative review. Acknowledge it, stay calm, move the conversation offline. [paste]” |
| 14 | FAQ builder. “Based on my [service], write 10 FAQs my customers are likely to ask, with clear short answers. Plain English.” |
| 15 | Follow-up sequence. “Write a 3-email follow-up sequence for a lead who enquired but hasn’t booked. Helpful, not pushy. Space them across 10 days.” |
| 16 | Objection handling. “My customers often say ‘[common objection]’. Give me 3 honest, non-salesy ways to respond.” |
| 17 | Proposal draft. “Draft a simple one-page proposal for [client] covering [scope, price, timeline]. Professional but readable.” |
| 18 | Onboarding emails. “Write a 3-email welcome sequence for new customers of [business]. Set expectations, build trust, point them to next steps.” |
| 19 | Win back lapsed customers. “Write a friendly ‘we miss you’ email for customers who haven’t bought in 6 months. Include a genuine reason to return.” |
| 20 | Ask for a review. “Write a short, no-pressure message asking a happy customer to leave a Google review. Make it easy and quick to act on.” |
Admin & Operations (21–28)
| # | Copy-and-paste prompt |
|---|---|
| 21 | Summarise. “Summarise this document into a one-page brief with the key points, decisions and any action items. [paste / attach]” |
| 22 | Notes to actions. “Turn these messy meeting notes into a clear list of action items with an owner and a due date for each. [paste]” |
| 23 | Write an SOP. “Write a step-by-step standard operating procedure for [task] so a new staff member could follow it without help.” |
| 24 | Job ad. “Write a job ad for a [role] at [business] in [suburb]. Cover the duties, the must-haves and why someone would want to work with us.” |
| 25 | Spreadsheet help. “I need an Excel formula that [does X]. Explain the formula in plain English so I understand it.” (Claude’s Excel Skill can build the sheet too.) |
| 26 | Compare two versions. “Compare these two documents and tell me exactly what changed and whether anything looks risky. [paste both]” |
| 27 | Meeting agenda. “Build a 30-minute meeting agenda to cover [topics]. Allocate time to each item and list the decision needed.” |
| 28 | Slide deck. “Build a 6-slide presentation pitching [idea] to [audience]. One key message per slide, speaker notes underneath.” (Try the PowerPoint Skill.) |
Research & Decisions (29–36)
| # | Copy-and-paste prompt |
|---|---|
| 29 | Competitor check. “Turn on web search. Look at [competitor website] and tell me what they do well, what’s weak, and where I could stand out.” |
| 30 | Review mining. “Here are 25 of my competitor’s reviews. Find the recurring complaints and the recurring praise. [paste]” |
| 31 | Report summary. “Read this industry report and give me the 5 takeaways that matter for a small [business type]. [attach]” |
| 32 | SWOT. “Run a SWOT analysis on my business. Here’s the context: [describe]. Be honest, not flattering.” |
| 33 | Explain it simply. “Explain [complex topic] like I’m a busy business owner with no background in it. Use an everyday analogy.” |
| 34 | Trend research. “Turn on web search. What are the current trends in [industry] for 2026, and which ones actually matter for a small business?” |
| 35 | Decision helper. “I’m deciding between [option A] and [option B]. Give me an honest pros and cons table and your recommendation with reasons.” |
| 36 | Survey design. “Write 8 customer survey questions to find out [what I want to learn]. Mix of rating scales and short open questions.” |
Website & SEO (37–43)
| # | Copy-and-paste prompt |
|---|---|
| 37 | Meta title & description. “Write a 60-character SEO title and a 155-character meta description for a page about [topic] in [suburb].” |
| 38 | Keyword brainstorm. “Give me 30 keyword ideas a customer might search for [my service]. Group them into ‘ready to buy’ and ‘still researching’.” |
| 39 | Page outline. “Outline a service page targeting ‘[keyword]’. Suggest H2s, what each section should cover, and where a call to action goes.” |
| 40 | Image alt text. “Write clear, descriptive alt text for an image showing [describe the image]. Keep it natural, under 125 characters.” |
| 41 | Schema explainer. “Explain in plain English what LocalBusiness schema is and why my website needs it. No code.” |
| 42 | Audit my own copy. “Here’s my homepage text. Tell me honestly if it’s clear, who it speaks to, and what’s missing. [paste]” |
| 43 | Internal linking. “Here’s a list of my website pages. Suggest sensible internal links between them and good anchor text. [paste list]” |
Personal Productivity (44–50)
| # | Copy-and-paste prompt |
|---|---|
| 44 | Prioritise my day. “Here’s my to-do list. Sort it by impact versus effort and tell me the 3 things to do first. [paste]” |
| 45 | Hard message. “Help me write a difficult message to [who] about [situation]. Honest and respectful, not harsh. Give me two tone options.” |
| 46 | Meeting prep. “I’ve got a meeting about [topic] with [who]. What should I prepare, what might they ask, and what’s my goal?” |
| 47 | Learn a skill. “Build me a simple 4-week plan to learn [skill], assuming I can spare 3 hours a week. Practical steps only.” |
| 48 | Break a creative block. “Give me 20 fresh ideas for [challenge]. Go wide — include a few odd ones I’d never think of myself.” |
| 49 | Proofread & tighten. “Proofread this and tighten it without changing my meaning or my voice. Show me what you changed. [paste]” |
| 50 | Think it through. “Be my sounding board. I’m wrestling with [decision]. Ask me 5 questions to help me think clearly before you give an opinion.” |
Weak Prompt vs Strong Prompt — Side By Side
Same job, two prompts. This is the difference between a result you can use and one you bin.
| ❌ Weak prompt | ✅ Strong prompt |
|---|---|
| “Write a Facebook post.” | “Write a Facebook post for my [business] announcing [news]. Friendly Aussie tone, under 80 words, one question to spark comments.” |
| “Help with my emails.” | “Reply to this customer who’s chasing a late order. Apologise, give a realistic new date, offer a small goodwill gesture. [paste]” |
| “Give me SEO tips.” | “Give me 5 local SEO tasks a [business type] in [suburb] can do this week with no budget. Explain each in plain English.” |
Three Habits That Make Claude 10x More Useful
The prompts above are the start. These three habits — all built on features from the last six months — are what separates people who get genuine value from people who give up after a week.
| Feature | Do this |
|---|---|
| Memory | Tell Claude your business, your customers and your tone once. It’ll remember next time — no more re-explaining yourself every chat. |
| Projects | Set up a Project for each big area — “Marketing”, “Customer Service” — and drop in your brand guide and sample writing so every chat starts smart. |
| Skills & Artifacts | Ask for the real deliverable — a finished spreadsheet, a slide deck, a working draft — not just text describing one. |
A Final Word From Me
Here’s the honest truth. None of these 50 prompts will replace what makes your business yours — your judgement, your local knowledge, the relationships you’ve built. What they will do is hand you back a few hours every week that you’re currently losing to the blank page.
I genuinely want you to win. Whether you run a shop in South Melbourne, a clinic out in Hawthorn, or a trade business anywhere across town, the businesses that learn to use these tools well are going to have a real edge over the ones that don’t. And it costs nothing to start — the free plan covers most of what’s above.
Pick five prompts from this list. Just five. Use them this week. Once they’re second nature, grab another five. Before long it’s just how you work.
And if you want a hand turning any of this into a proper marketing plan, you know where we are. We’ve been helping Melbourne businesses grow for over 14 years, and we love this stuff. Even if you never become a client, flick us a message — happy to point you in the right direction.
Go well out there.
— Craig Winder, SEO Empire
Sources & further reading: Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.7 announcement and the official Claude release notes. All features mentioned were current as of 2026.
