An effective skill goes beyond a simple instruction. It should be structured like an expert's toolkit, including established frameworks (e.g., AIDA for copywriting), a scoring system for evaluation, and a defined output template for consistency and clarity.
Instead of guessing which skills to create, describe your business to Claude and ask it to recommend the 10 most valuable, custom skills you should build. This leverages the AI's understanding to bootstrap your own AI-powered workflow.
Treat Skills as permanent, reusable team members (e.g., a "copywriter"). Use Projects for context-specific, temporary initiatives with a clear start and end, like a seasonal marketing campaign. This mental model clarifies when to use each feature.
A truly effective skill isn't created in one shot. The best practice is to treat the first version as a draft, then iteratively refine it through research, self-critique, and testing to make the AI "think like an expert, not just follow steps."