The trend among websites lately to raise the bar of their content is largely credited to Google’s new search algorithm, which reduces the amount of lower-quality content surfacing high in search results. This has posed a serious problem for so-called “content farms.” According to Reuters:

Because of those adjustments, search engine referrals for eHow fell 20 percent, said Demand Media Chief Executive Richard Rosenblatt. Total page views declined 12 percent.

Demand Media’s efforts to raise the bar is not only good for readers and Google searchers, but for writers as well — particularly those who favor off-beat stories.

The company said it will commission longer stories of about 850 words such as an interview on poet Maya Angelou‘s cooking philosophy and an examination of the heirloom produce craze. Writers would be paid in the range of $80 to $350.

Heirloom produce enthusiasts — you now have your place in the world.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

David Carr‘s New York Times‘ piece yesterday about Demand Media hit home: As someone who has spent their post-collegiate years looking for writing jobs – any kind of writing jobs – seeing Demand’s Craigslist posts are unavoidable, and appealing. Not only do they promise the blogger’s dream of making by writing about whatever you want, but a chance to work for a completely different type of organization, one that “solves problems, answers questions, saves money, saves time and makes people laugh.” Do all that and get paid? Sounds too good to be true. And it is.

As Carr pointed out in his article, rarely do these writers see much money, “The average article pays $15 to $20 – videos pay about $30 – but the company has had no trouble signing up 7,000 steady contributors to bid for the work. (Copy editors make about $3.50 for editing a story.)” So far the company — founded by Richard Rosenblatt and Shawn Colo — has managed produce over 1,000,000 articles and YouTube videos that are streamed 2.5 million times daily. Yet unlike say Examiner.com a similar system whereby writers get traffic bonuses that usually pay out in pennies, Demand isn’t looking for relevant news content.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New York Times: Another look at what went so wrong with the Time Warner-AOL merger.

Financial Times: A profile of Newsmax.

All Things D: A Demand Media manifesto.

Washington Post: British journalist Rupert Hamer was killed Sunday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

Fashion Week Daily: Fashionista.com editor Abby Gardner has made an exit from the blog, and will be replaced by Lauren Sherman, formerly of Forbes.

Media Nation: A federal investigation provides an explanation for why the president of The Boston Globe‘s union, Dan Totten, signed another union officer’s name to his paycheck, an action that resulted in him being removed from union management.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.