Preparing your website to launch

Written by: Jay Douglas

Last Updated: 2 Jun., 2026

Before publishing, it's worth taking a few minutes to review your site the way a visitor would, checking that the content is accurate, the design looks right on mobile, and everything works as expected. This checklist walks you through content, design, functionality, and strategic quality — so you can go live knowing your site is accurate, polished, and ready to make an impression. Work through the sections relevant to your site type, then publish when everything checks out.

Preview your site

Before diving into the checklist, view your site the way a visitor would. The Preview button opens your staging URL in a new browser tab — no editor interface, just the site itself.

Click the Mobile View icon in the toolbar to check how your site looks on a narrow screen without leaving the editor.
Click Preview in the top-right toolbar to open your site in a new desktop browser tab.

Tip: Your staging URL can be shared with teammates, clients, or stakeholders for feedback before you publish. Just copy the URL from the browser tab and send it — no B12 account is required to view it.

Check the essentials

These checks apply to every B12 website, regardless of type. Work through all of them before moving to the design and feature-specific sections.

Content and copy — Read every page. Check for typos, outdated information, and any placeholder text left over from site creation.
Contact info, address, and business hours — Confirm your phone number, email address, physical address, and hours are accurate and consistent across all pages.
Images — Every image loads correctly, is relevant to the content around it, and isn't stretched or blurry. Replace any stock photos that don't represent your business.
Navigation links — Click every item in your main navigation and confirm it loads the correct page without errors.
Buttons and links — Every button and text link should point to the right destination. Confirm that email and phone links are clickable, external links open in a new tab, and no buttons lead to a blank or error page.
Contact forms — Submit a test entry through every form on your site. Confirm three things: the submission appears under Form Submissions in the left sidebar, a notification email arrives in your inbox, and a confirmation email is sent to the address you used in the test.
Social media links — Click each social icon and confirm it opens the correct profile in a new tab.
Favicon — Check that a favicon appears in the browser tab when you preview your site. If it's missing, add a favicon.

Note: Notification emails from B12 contact forms come from a B12 address, not your own domain. If your test notification doesn't arrive, check your spam folder.

Review your messaging and goals

Technical quality keeps visitors on your site; strategic quality gets them to act. These checks are especially important for business websites, but they apply to any site with a goal.

Value proposition — Within the first few seconds on your homepage, is it clear what you do, who you serve, and why someone should choose you? If the answer isn't obvious, your headline needs work.
CTAs on every key page — Each important page should tell visitors what to do next: book a call, get a quote, contact you, buy. A page without a clear next step is a missed opportunity.
Within-page flow — Each page should guide visitors from an attention-grabbing opening to supporting detail to a clear CTA. If your CTA is buried at the bottom of a long page, move it higher.
Trust signals — Testimonials, client logos, credentials, certifications, and real photos of you or your team increase credibility. At least one of these should appear on your homepage.
Contact visibility — Visitors should be able to find how to reach you from any page — whether through a Contact link in navigation, a phone number in the footer, or both.
Services and offerings — Are your services or products clearly described? Is there a path to pricing, a quote, or a next step — even if exact pricing isn't listed?

If any of these feel weak, use the AI Agent to improve them:

My homepage headline doesn't clearly explain what I do. Rewrite it to make my value proposition more compelling for [your target audience].

Add a clear call-to-action button near the top of my [page name] page that encourages visitors to [desired action — e.g., book a consultation, get a quote].

Review your visual design

A site that works but looks inconsistent or unpolished can undermine trust before a visitor ever reads a word. Review these visual elements before going live.

Brand colors and logo — Your logo appears correctly on every page and your brand colors are applied consistently throughout the site.
Typography and spacing — Headings, body text, and spacing look uniform across all pages. Mismatched font sizes or inconsistent heading styles make a site feel unfinished.
Balanced sections — No section feels cramped or oversized. Content should have enough padding to breathe and be easy to read.
Button consistency — All buttons share the same style — color, size, and shape — and stand out clearly from the background.
Intentional layout — Each section has a clear purpose. If a section doesn't contribute to your primary goal, consider removing it.
Mobile experience — On a narrow screen, text should be readable without zooming, buttons easy to tap, and sections stacked in a logical order.

Tip: The AI Agent can fix design inconsistencies across your entire site at once. Try: "Make sure all buttons use the same style and color throughout my site" or "Review my typography and make the heading styles consistent across all pages."

Test your features

Work through the section that matches your website type. If your site combines multiple types — for example, a service business with a blog — check all relevant sections.

→Blog

⇒Before publishing, confirm the following for your blog:
• All published posts have a title, correct date, and correctly formatted body text.
• No draft or test posts are accidentally set to published.
• Author name and bio (if shown) are accurate.
• Category or tag labels are consistent and spelled correctly.
• Each post ends with a clear CTA or link encouraging readers to take a next step.

→Portfolio

⇒Before publishing, confirm the following for your portfolio:
• All project images load correctly and are high quality.
• Case study links and project descriptions are accurate and up to date.
• A clear hire or contact CTA is visible on both the main portfolio page and individual project pages.
• Your featured work reflects the type of projects you want more of.

→Ecommerce and payments

⇒Before publishing, confirm the following for commerce features:
• Product and service details — names, descriptions, and pricing — are accurate.
• Your payment method is connected and active under Commerce in the left sidebar.
• Complete a test transaction to confirm the checkout flow works end to end.
• A connected bank account is set up under Commerce → Bank accounts — without this, visitors won't be able to complete a purchase.
• Your site has a privacy policy and terms of service — required for any site collecting payments or personal data.

→Events and bookings

⇒Before publishing, confirm the following for event listings and booking functionality:
• Event dates, times, and locations are accurate.
• Registration or booking links work and lead to the correct destination.
• Confirmation emails fire correctly after a booking or registration is completed.
• Any sold-out or fully booked events are clearly marked.
• Cancellation or refund policies are visible where applicable.

→Web apps and login portals

⇒Before publishing, confirm the following for login-gated features:
• Data & Users is configured and the login and sign-up flow works as expected.
• Access rules are tested — protected pages are only visible to logged-in users.
• The post-login experience is clear: users land somewhere useful after signing in.
• Your site includes a privacy policy — required for any site collecting user account data.

→Media and downloads

⇒Before publishing, confirm the following for embedded media and downloadable content:
• Embedded videos (YouTube, Vimeo, and similar) play correctly on both desktop and mobile.
• Audio players work as expected.
• Autoplay settings are intentional — autoplay video or audio can be jarring for first-time visitors.
• All download links work and open the correct, current version of the file.
• PDFs and documents open without errors.

Optimize for search

Confirm these optimizations and settings before going live. The AI Agent can handle the SEO tasks across your entire site at once — use the prompts below for each one.

Page titles and meta descriptions — Every page on your site needs its own optimized title and meta description, not just the site-level defaults. These are what appear in Google search results, and a page with a unique, keyword-relevant title and description will rank and perform better than one using generic or duplicated text. Open Settings to confirm your site-level defaults are set, then use this prompt to optimize every page at once:

Review every page on my site and write an SEO-optimized page title (under 60 characters) and meta description (under 160 characters) for each one. Focus on keywords relevant to [your industry or business type].

Heading structure — Each page should have exactly one H1 heading that clearly describes the page content. Multiple H1s or missing H1s can hurt how search engines interpret your pages.

Check that every page on my site has exactly one clear H1 heading that describes the page content. Fix any pages that are missing an H1 or using multiple H1s.

Image alt text — Alt text describes images to search engines and to visitors using screen readers. Pages with properly labelled images rank better and are more accessible.

Add descriptive alt text to every image on my site that doesn't already have one.

Google Analytics — If you plan to track visitor traffic, connect Google Analytics before publishing so you capture data from day one rather than losing your earliest traffic.

Add Google Analytics with this ID: INSERT YOUR TAG ID

Connect your domain

Connect a custom domain so your site goes live at your own address (yourbusiness.com) instead of a B12 subdomain. Open Domains in the left sidebar to get started. You can purchase a new domain or connect one you already own. Follow these steps.

Note: Connecting a custom domain requires a paid B12 plan. Upgrade your plan if you haven't already.

You can also continue with your free B12 subdomain (yoursite.b12sites.com) and connect a custom domain at any time after publishing.

Publish your site

Once everything checks out, you're ready to go live.

Click Publish in the top-right toolbar. The button is purple when you have unpublished changes.
Confirm the publish dialog. Your site goes live immediately at your connected domain or default B12 subdomain.

Note: The Publish button is grayed out while the AI Agent is processing changes. Wait for any active tasks to finish before publishing.

For a full walkthrough of the preview and publish flow, see Previewing and publishing your B12 website.

Frequently asked questions

→Can I share my site for feedback before it's published?

⇒Yes. Click Preview to open your staging URL in a new tab, then share that URL with anyone you'd like feedback from. No B12 account is required to view it.

→How long does publishing take?

⇒Publishing takes slightly longer than preview — usually a minute or less. This is expected, as the live site runs through full production settings and domain routing. If your site hasn't appeared after a few minutes, try clearing your browser cache and reloading.

→Do I need a custom domain before I can publish?

⇒No. You can publish to your default B12 subdomain and connect a custom domain at any time after publishing. Your content and site structure won't change when you switch.

→How long does connecting a domain take?

⇒Most domain providers connect to B12 within a few minutes, but in some cases domain changes can take up to 24 hours to fully propagate. If you're not seeing your website on your domain right away, it's completely normal. You can also trouleshoot cache issues to see stored data is preventing you from viewing the most up-to-date version of your site. If you still need help after 24 hours, contact B12's Support Team.

→Why does my site still show a B12 ad banner after I upgraded my plan?

⇒The banner is removed when you publish after upgrading. If you upgraded but haven't published since, click Publish to push the change live.

→Will my site show up on Google right away after I publish?

⇒Not immediately. Google needs to crawl and index your site first, which can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. To speed things up, submit your site to Google Search Console after publishing. In the meantime, sharing your URL directly and promoting it on social media can help drive early traffic while you wait for search visibility.

→How do I test my contact form?

⇒Fill in the form with a test name and email address and submit it. Then check Form Submissions in the left sidebar and your email inbox for the notification. If the notification doesn't arrive, check your spam folder — form emails come from a B12 address, not your own domain.

→Can I keep editing my site after it's live?

⇒Yes — publishing doesn't lock your site. You can continue making changes in B12 at any time. Updates you make in the editor are only visible to visitors once you click Publish again to push them live.

→What do visitors see while I'm making edits?

⇒Visitors always see the last published version of your site. Any edits you make in the editor are invisible to the public until you publish again. This means you can work on updates without affecting what visitors currently see.

→Can I unpublish my site?

⇒Yes. See Unpublishing your website for instructions. Unpublishing makes your site private but doesn't delete it — you can republish at any time.