This guide walks through every prerequisite, flags the configuration choices that most often block progress, and tells you exactly what a working setup looks like when you are done.
Who This Guide Is For
If you run a service business, small agency, or growing team that needs a professional website plus client-facing tools — intake forms, contracts, invoicing, email marketing — in a single managed environment, B12 is worth a close look. Clarify that before you start, because the setup steps and available features diverge meaningfully between tiers.
Requirements
| Requirement | Have It? | Where to Get It |
|---|---|---|
| B12 account (free Starter or paid plan) | Needed before anything else | Sign up at b12.io |
| Custom domain (required on Website plan and above) | Optional on free tier only | Any domain registrar; connect inside B12 dashboard |
| Business name, logo, and brand colors | Strongly recommended at signup | Confirm the provider's current plan documentation before relying on a specific feature being included at a particular tier. |
| Service descriptions and copy | Helpful but not mandatory | B12's AI drafts initial copy; review and edit after generation |
| Payment details for a paid plan (if applicable) | Required to unlock paid features | Credit card accepted at checkout; annual billing saves 15% |
| Team member email addresses (Professional/Advanced) | Needed for seat assignment | Gather before inviting; seat limits apply per plan |
Expected Outcome
Explore B12 Through Our Partner Link
The AI-generated site draft will have been reviewed and published, analytics will be active on plans that include them, and you will know which plan features remain locked behind an upgrade — so you can decide whether to expand before committing to client-facing workflows.
Getting Started with B12: Steps 1 Through 3
Learning how to use B12 effectively means understanding what happens at each stage before you click anything. The platform combines AI-generated drafts with human review, so the sequence matters more than it might in a traditional drag-and-drop builder. Here are the first three steps, along with what can go wrong and how to confirm each one worked.
Step 1: Create Your Account and Choose a Plan
Start by signing up at B12. The free Starter plan gives you five AI credits per day, website hosting, invoicing, and credit card processing — enough to evaluate the interface without commitment.
The critical prerequisite here is deciding whether you need client-facing tools from day one. Client intake, email marketing, contracts, and eSignature live exclusively in the Website + Client Engagement tier and above. Jumping in on a lower plan and migrating later is possible but adds friction, so audit your requirements before committing.
Verify it worked: After sign-up, confirm your plan tier is displayed in your account dashboard and that your domain status reflects the plan you selected.
Step 2: Run the AI Website Draft
B12's onboarding asks for your business name, industry, and a short description.
Verify it worked: The generated draft should reflect your industry terminology and service framing, not placeholder copy. If it reads generic, revise your description and regenerate before moving forward.
Step 3: Review and Edit the AI Draft in the Website Editor
Once the draft is live in preview, use the built-in website editor to adjust copy, swap images, and reorganize sections. The editor is available across all plans.
Verify it worked: Toggle to mobile preview mode before saving any section. Confirm that text remains legible, buttons are tappable, and no sections are truncated unexpectedly.
Steps 4 to 6: Connect, Configure, and Confirm Your Setup
Once your site draft is live and your branding is locked in, the next phase of learning how to use B12 shifts from appearance to operation. Steps 4 through 6 cover how you connect client-facing tools, configure your engagement and payment workflows, and verify that everything is functioning before you send a single link to a real contact.
Step 4: Connect Your Domain and Remove B12 Branding
A custom domain is included from the Website plan upward. Evaluate the workflow benefit against your own baseline rather than assuming a specific measured outcome.
Step 5: Set Up Invoicing, Payments, and Client Intake
Payment and intake features are plan-dependent. Invoicing and credit card processing are available on the free Starter tier, which is useful for testing your checkout flow at zero plan cost. Automated payment reminders, recurring invoicing, and client intake forms unlock on the Website plan and above. Contract and eSignature tools require the Website + Client Engagement plan.
See How B12 Fits Your Workflow
Before going live with payments, send a test invoice to yourself and confirm the transaction fee structure matches your pricing model. The standard processing rate applies to all transactions; international cards and currency conversion carry additional percentage fees, so build those into your quotes if you serve clients outside your home currency.
Step 6: Verify Your AI Credits and Content Workflow
AI credits govern how much content generation you can do each billing period. Map your expected monthly content tasks against the credit allocation on your chosen plan before you commit to a billing cycle.
Getting started with B12 sustainably means confirming these operational details before volume picks up. A domain that resolves cleanly, a payment flow you have personally tested, and a clear sense of your credit budget are the three prerequisites that determine whether step 6 marks a clean launch or a scramble to fix things under pressure.
Troubleshooting Common B12 Setup Problems
Even a straightforward implementation path produces friction points. When you're working through how to use B12 for the first time—or reconfiguring an existing site—these are the failure patterns that appear most often, along with the validation checks that confirm you're past them.
AI-Generated Content Doesn't Match Your Brand
The AI draft pulls from the business description you supply during onboarding. If the output feels generic, the source text was likely too brief or too broad. Return to your business profile, add specifics—service area, target client type, tone preference—then regenerate affected sections. Compare the new draft against your existing marketing copy before publishing. If the positioning still drifts, treat the AI output as a structural scaffold and rewrite the headline and first paragraph manually.
Custom Domain Not Resolving
DNS propagation is the most common delay after connecting a custom domain. Use a public DNS lookup tool (such as MXToolbox or DNSChecker) to verify propagation status independently.
Plan Limits Blocking a Feature
Several capabilities—AI credits, client intake, contracts, email marketing, and commerce—are tier-specific. If a feature appears locked or greyed out, check your current plan against the feature list before assuming a technical fault.
Email Notifications Not Arriving
If appointment confirmations, invoice notifications, or contact form alerts aren't reaching clients, check two things: the sender email address configured under your account settings, and whether the recipient's mail provider is filtering the domain. A custom email address (available on the Website + Client Engagement plan and above) reduces deliverability friction compared to a generic shared sender.
Mobile Layout Breaks After Editing
The editor applies changes across breakpoints automatically, but heavily customized sections can misalign on mobile. After any structural edit, use the mobile preview mode inside the editor to confirm layout integrity before publishing. If alignment problems persist, resetting that section's spacing values to defaults resolves most cases without needing support.
Did It Work? And Are You Ready to Go Live?
Did It Work? Binary Checks Before You Proceed
Run these objective checks before treating your setup as complete. Each item has a clear pass or fail—no judgment calls required at this stage.
- Your custom domain resolves correctly and the browser shows a valid TLS padlock — confirming the free TLS certificate is active and DNS has fully propagated.
- At least one page loads on mobile without layout breaks — B12 sites are built to be mobile-optimized, so a broken mobile view signals a configuration issue worth investigating before launch.
- Any intake form you configured submits a test entry and that entry appears in your contact manager.
- If you set up invoicing, a test invoice reaches the intended recipient email and the payment link is functional.
- Your AI-generated copy has been reviewed and edited — automated output is a starting point, not a finished draft.
- Confirm the provider's current free-plan or trial availability and limits before using it as a purchasing criterion.
Ready to Go Live? Subjective Readiness Assessment
Passing the binary checks above means the plumbing works. Ask yourself whether the copy reflects your actual service offer, whether your pricing and availability are current, and whether a first-time visitor would understand what action to take within ten seconds of landing on the page.
Check B12 Fit and Current Options
Frequently Asked Questions
Current plans and pricing: Use our partner link to view current plans, pricing, and any available offers. Final pricing and promotional terms are set by the provider and may vary by plan, billing cycle, usage, region, and eligibility.
How many AI credits do I get, and what happens when I run out?
The free Starter plan gives you 5 AI credits per day. When you exhaust your credits, the AI regeneration features stop working until the next reset cycle. That daily cap on Starter is tight if you plan to iterate on copy heavily, so map out your edits before burning through a regeneration — especially during initial setup.
When does it make more sense to start on the Website plan instead of Starter?
Go straight to the Website plan if a custom domain, traffic analytics, automated payment reminders, or recurring invoicing matter from day one. Confirm the current plan-level details that matter to your workflow before subscribing, especially when limits or availability could change the decision.
Can I have teammates access the B12 dashboard, and does their access level depend on my plan?
Advanced team management is available on the Website + Client Engagement plan and above. If you're on a lower tier and a teammate can't see a feature, the issue is usually seat assignment or plan tier — check both before assuming the feature is broken. Seat limits are plan-specific, so confirm what your current plan supports before adding team members to a client-facing workflow.
What's actually included in the 'do-it-for-you' setup, and which plans get it?
The Website plan includes do-it-for-you website setup along with monthly creation of new website content or site enhancements. The Professional plan goes further — your site is built by a dedicated team of copywriters, designers, and project managers, with ongoing monthly updates handled for you. If you'd rather delegate setup entirely than work through the AI questionnaire yourself, Professional is the tier designed for that workflow.
Does B12 cost anything to try, or do I need a credit card to test it out?
Pricing can vary by seat count, billing commitment, and current offers, so compare the provider's current pricing for your exact team size with the workflow fit and tradeoffs described in this guide before subscribing.