HowToStayAfloat.com features a rather simplistic, frankly a little amateurish design (given the current web design standards), and it mostly works, but could use some improving. The first most obvious issue is the positioning of the leaderboard advertisement. It rather bluntly overlays the left column and otherwise appears somewhat out of place, albeit the overall design doesn't leave it much better place anywhere else. As it is, the site seems more fitting for a smaller banner ad that could be put in the content column of the site, above or below the actual content.

On the "Get out of debt page" the calculator obscures some of the text above and below it.

That said, it might be best to provide a few well meaning suggestions that could help improve the overall attractiveness of the site. First, the header, while it doesn't necessarily need to contain a fancy logo, could use at least a better quality image of the rescue ring as the current JPG image shows artifacts. Optionally both the image and the title in the header could be created in photoshop (or some other image editing or vector graphics application) so some sort of a nice effect (like a gradient or a shadow) can be added to the font.

The overall height of the header could also be reduced by slightly reducing the size of the title area and pushing it all a bit closer to the top. The oval box with "HowToStayAfloat.com" in it could be removed and "HowToStayAfloat.com" text could stand on its own right above the oval header area where the main title is. Then the main menu links on the right sidebar could use a notch smaller font and have a hover color so when the mouse is put over the link it is highlighted.

The way I envision the improved version of HowToStayAfloat.com's design is illustrated in the image below, given that picture is still worth a thousand words and modifications were simple enough. I hereby authorize the owner of HowToStayAfloat.com to make unrestricted use of this image in any way helpful towards improving site's design (including cutting it up and using parts of it directly on the site). Same goes for the vector graphics version available here.

Click to enlarge.

The rescue ring image used is from OpenClipart.org and is in public domain and therefore free to use. This design improvement makes thing appear more aligned, adds a clearer separation between header, sidebar and content and instead of a single big leaderboard ad uses two smaller ad spots, one at the top of the content area and one in the sidebar. Clearly though, this design improvement doesn't deviate from the current design premise, it just builds on it.

Overall, as it stands the design isn't quite impressive, the ad feels out of place, the header seems bare and somewhat misaligned, but to its credit it is simple and as such remains functional and easy to navigate. And the images of "them" and "you" are a nice touch too. For this it gets a passing grade.

Design rating: 6/10

Focus:

Everyone's talking about recession these days. HowToStayAfloat.com's title immediately says "Survive the Recession" suggesting the purpose of the site, and probably making everyone's heart jump a beat. This sort of information ought to be in high demand. In any case, focus is spot on. Nothing else but recession survival information is conveyed and that's made clear by the title and menu links.

Focus rating: 10/10

Content:

Content starts with an introduction on the homepage which briefly refers to the recent events and encourages the reader not to panic, that there is a way to stay afloat, referring to the topics linked on the left. A good start.

Articles on the sub pages are helpful, divided into subsections and featuring tips and references to other helpful sites. The language is personal and down to earth and articles aren't too long and are easy to read. There is also a list of author's favorite books that may contain a great deal of helpful information.

Given that on all pages the author's name and profession are displayed it is always clear who is providing this advice which should inspire some confidence in the advice given, since author's background can be more easily researched. The homepage also contains a blog update linking to the author's blog.

The amount of content is limited though, but given that the author already refers to a blog it might be a good idea to add a block that automatically refers to recent blog posts, therefore adding to the amount of immediately available content. The blog can serve for ongoing analysis and commentary of events as well as further advice, while the site's articles can be perfected and updated through time to include new insights or references.

Overall though, this is a solid offering.

Content rating: 9/10