# Publishing & sharing your site > Click Publish to go live at yourname.sitesplaced.com, share the link anywhere, and push edits live. Guide: https://sitesplaced.com/help/account-and-support/publishing-and-sharing · Section: Account & Support · Last reviewed: 2026-08-23 Publishing is how your work goes from a private draft to a live site anyone can visit. It's free, it takes one click, and your site gets a `yourname.sitesplaced.com` address the moment it's live. Websites are live from the moment you create them; a store starts as a **Draft** and goes live when you click **Publish**. ## Publish a store 1. Open the store from your Dashboard with **Manage Store**. 2. Add at least one product — the **Store Dashboard** shows a **Draft** label until you go live. 3. Click **Publish** (top-right on a computer). On a phone, the bar at the bottom says **Add your first product** until you have one, then **Publish store**. 4. A **Your store is live!** popup appears with your link, a **Copy** button, **WhatsApp** and **Instagram** share buttons, a QR download, and a **Visit store** button. The label at the top of the dashboard switches to **Live**. Want to take it down for a while? Click **Unpublish**. You'll be asked to confirm — customers then see a *not found* page until you publish again. Nothing is deleted. ## Publish a website Websites and portfolios built in the editor are live as soon as they're created, so the **Publish** button (top-right of the editor) is there to push your latest edits and confirm everything went through. Clicking it saves first, then shows a **Your website is now live!** popup with your link, a **Copy** button, and **LinkedIn**, **Instagram** and **WhatsApp** share buttons. The **Visit** button next to it opens the live site in a new tab. The green banner under the editor toolbar tells you what applies to this site — for example *Free to publish with a small SitesPlaced badge*. The only sites that aren't free to publish are **celebration invitations** (wedding and event templates), which need a one-time unlock (₹999 in India) when you click Publish. ## Your address Your free address is `yourname.sitesplaced.com`, where `yourname` is your **slug**. You'll also see it written as `yourname.sitesplaced.site` on your Dashboard and in the live popup — both open the same site, so share whichever you've copied. To change the slug, see [Your free subdomain](https://sitesplaced.com/help/md/custom-domains/free-subdomain.md); remember that changing it breaks any link you've already shared. When you connect your own domain and it's verified, that domain becomes the main link everywhere — the Dashboard card, the live popup and the QR code — and the free address keeps working as a backup. See [Connect your own domain](https://sitesplaced.com/help/md/custom-domains/connect-a-domain.md). ## Share your link Copy your `yourname.sitesplaced.com` link and share it **anywhere** — your WhatsApp status, Instagram bio, Google Business listing, a printed flyer, wherever your customers are. It works on every phone and computer, no app required. - **Dashboard** — the site card shows your address; once published, the arrow button next to **Manage Store** or **Edit** opens the live site. - **Store Dashboard** — **Open Store** in the header opens the live store in a new tab. On the **Home** tab, **Share store link** opens your phone's share sheet (or copies the link on a computer). - **Store QR code** — also on the Home tab. **Download PNG**, **Download SVG**, **Copy link** or **Print**. Customers scan it with their camera and land on your store — put it on packaging, visiting cards or the shop counter. The code keeps working even if you connect a domain later. - **Live popup** — right after publishing, use the **WhatsApp** and **Instagram** buttons. Instagram doesn't accept links from other apps, so that button copies the link for you to paste into your bio, story or DM. ## Push your edits live Once a site is live there is no separate draft copy — what you **save** is what visitors see, usually within a minute or two. The rules are slightly different in each place: - **Website editor** — edits **autosave** about two seconds after you stop typing. The toolbar shows **Unsaved**, then **Saving…**, then **✓ Saved**. Click **Save** if you don't want to wait, and **Publish** to push everything and get the share popup. - **Store products and orders** — saved the moment you click the form's save button; they're live straight away. - **Store Settings** — a bar appears saying **You have unsaved changes** with **Save** and **Discard**. Nothing changes on the live store until you click **Save**. - **Store Design tab** — section edits are not autosaved. The header shows **Unsaved changes**; click **Save** to apply them. > **Edited something but it's not showing?:** The two things to check: did you **Save**, and did you **re-publish**? If both are done and you still see the old version, do a **hard refresh** (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R). More fixes in [Troubleshooting](https://sitesplaced.com/help/md/account-and-support/troubleshooting.md). ## Good to know - Free sites carry a small badge — **Made using sitesplaced.com** on websites, **Powered by SitesPlaced** in a store's footer. A paid plan removes it; see [Free vs premium store](https://sitesplaced.com/help/md/online-stores/free-vs-premium-store.md). - Publishing also tells Google about your site. It still takes days or weeks to appear in search — see [Store SEO](https://sitesplaced.com/help/md/online-stores/store-seo.md) for what speeds it up. - The website editor is **desktop only**. On a phone you'll see a *Desktop Only* notice with a **Visit Site** button; the store dashboard, by contrast, works fully on a phone. - Websites don't have an **Unpublish** button in the editor. To take one offline, delete it from the Dashboard, or [contact support](https://sitesplaced.com/contact) and we'll switch it to draft for you without deleting anything. Want your own address instead of the sitesplaced.com one? You can add a [custom domain](https://sitesplaced.com/pricing) — and if it isn't resolving yet, see [Troubleshooting](https://sitesplaced.com/help/md/account-and-support/troubleshooting.md). **Q: Does publishing cost anything?** No. Websites, portfolios and stores all publish free with a SitesPlaced badge. Only celebration invitations need a one-time unlock. Paid plans add a custom domain and remove the badge — see the pricing page. **Q: Do I have to click Publish after every edit?** No. Saved edits reach the live site on their own, usually within a minute or two. Clicking Publish again is harmless and is the quickest way to be sure — it saves, pushes and shows your share popup. **Q: Will my link change if I upgrade or connect a domain?** Your sitesplaced.com link keeps working. Once a custom domain is verified it becomes the main link shown everywhere, and the QR code and share buttons switch to it automatically. **Q: Why does my store link show a not-found page?** The store is still a Draft (click Publish), or you've changed the slug since sharing the link, or there's a typo. Open the Dashboard and use the arrow button on the site card to get the exact live link. **Q: Can customers see my store while I'm editing it?** Yes, if it's published — there's no hidden draft copy. If you're doing a big redesign, click Unpublish first and Publish again when you're done.