Back to Blog

    A beginner's guide to Claude.ai — how to find your way around and get the most out of it

    By Rupert• July 21, 2026

    We've been using Claude.ai a lot recently — for writing content, analysing data, planning strategy, and even pushing blog posts directly into our CMS. It's become a genuinely useful part of how we work day to day.

    But when we first started using it, the interface wasn't immediately obvious. So we thought we'd put together a simple, no-jargon guide to help you find your feet — whether you're a complete beginner or you've tried it once or twice and weren't sure where to start.

    Getting started — what you'll see when you first log in

    Head to claude.ai and create a free account. Once you're in, you'll land on a clean, simple interface — a chat window in the middle of the screen and a sidebar on the left. It looks a bit like a messaging app, which is essentially what it is.

    Type anything in the box at the bottom and Claude will respond. That's genuinely all there is to getting started. But there's a lot more under the surface once you know where to look.

    The sidebar — your conversation history

    On the left you'll find all your previous conversations. Claude remembers what you've discussed within each conversation, but starts fresh in a new one — so if you're working on an ongoing project, keep coming back to the same conversation thread rather than starting new ones each time.

    Projects — a game changer for businesses

    One of the most useful features for businesses is Projects. You'll find this in the left sidebar. A Project is essentially a dedicated workspace where you can upload documents, set instructions, and have Claude remember context across multiple conversations.

    For example — we have a Project set up for Chain that contains our brand guidelines, tone of voice notes, and client information. Every time we start a conversation inside that Project, Claude already knows who we are and how we like to work. It's like briefing a new team member once and having them remember everything forever.

    Connecting your tools — MCP connectors

    In the settings area you'll find an option to connect external tools — things like Google Drive, your CMS, Shopify, HubSpot, and more. These are called MCP connectors and they're what make Claude genuinely powerful for business use.

    Once connected, you can ask Claude to do things like 'pull up last month's sales data from Shopify' or 'push this blog post to our CMS as a draft' — all without leaving the Claude interface. It turns Claude from a clever chatbot into something much more like a capable digital assistant that can actually take action on your behalf.

    Tips for getting better results

    • Be specific. The more context you give Claude, the better the output. Instead of 'write a blog post about Shopify', try 'write a 600-word blog post about Shopify migration for UK small business owners, in a friendly and approachable tone'.
    • Upload documents. You can drag and drop files directly into the chat — PDFs, Word docs, spreadsheets. Claude will read them and you can ask questions about the content.
    • Iterate. Don't expect perfection first time. Ask Claude to refine, adjust the tone, make it shorter, add more detail — treat it like a conversation, not a one-shot request.
    • Use it for thinking, not just doing. Some of the most valuable conversations we have with Claude are about strategy — 'what are the risks of doing X', 'help me think through this decision', 'what am I missing here'. It's a genuinely useful thinking partner.

    We'll be sharing more about how we use Claude in our day-to-day work at Chain — including how we've connected it to our CMS, our Shopify clients' stores, and our content workflow. If you'd like to explore what AI could do for your business, get in touch. We'd love to show you what's possible.