Once again, research has confirmed what I’ve thought for ages – businesses just don’t understand blogging. A three month study involving nearly 2,500 businesses by Fasthosts has shown that the majority believe blogs have powerful business uses. But only 3% of companies in the survey actually plan to start a blog..! In other words, businesses appear to be aware of the huge benefits blogging will bring but are failing to take any action. That’s a real problem – businesses who do not have blogs will find it tougher to compete. Equally, many businesses without blogs will not be able to counter any negative blogs criticising their products and services. In other words, businesses that don’t set up a blog pretty quickly, will almost certainly lose trade and may even close down as a result. Blogs are no longer a business “nice to have” – they are absolutely essential to business survival.