Childhoodmemoriesart

I was having coffee with a friend of mine who is familiar with my business. We were discussing the state of online business and weather our numbers were up or down since the economy seems to be in a slump.
While I haven’t seen sales go down, they aren’t gaining for me either and I’m a bit exasperated with it.
He asked if I had a blog to go along with my business? I do not and have not ventured into the blogosphere as of yet.
He went on to tell me of something called affiliate blogging which is apparently a program or several programs who offer products or services where I can place a link, graphic or bit of text on my blog and if my readers click through and make a purchase, I get a commission.
Sounds easy enough but does it really work, I wanted to know.
He said it is the overlooked treasure of internet marketing and that he is indeed making money from his. But, he warned me to look carefully and research which programs I look into.
So, will this help or just be another project on my long list of things to do?