The recommended workflow in the Quickstart has publishing to PDS come before verification by deploying the static site.
But if an AppView is watching the firehose, it might try to validate the publication/document as soon as the record comes in. If the site hasn't been deployed, it's liable to throw out the record. This is how longform.fyi currently works, although I might have to change it.
It's probably best to suggest publishing to PDS after deploying the static site.