This comes straight from Google themselves. It’s so important to your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to have quality, human readable (i.e., makes sense to a visitor) content.
There’s a lot to be said for curated content, but of course that requires original input too.
One of the most important steps in improving your site’s ranking in Google search results is to ensure that it contains plenty of rich information that includes relevant keywords, used appropriately, that indicate the subject matter of your content.
via Little or no original content – Webmaster Tools Help.
I know a lot of people want to shy away from it, after all, writing isn’t most of our core business, but your users do care about what you have to say. That’s generally why they want to spend money with you after all.
So it’s not just SEO. It’s business. Your business.