To start making money from affiliate marketing you first need a platform for people to visit. i.e Instagram, Youtube or a blog. All three of these platforms can be great for running successful affiliate campaigns. I would recommend using blogging as your platform of choice if you have a great deal of knowledge around a specific subject. As you know what you are talking about you will find your self rank high on Google and this is where you need to be. In summary, if you are planning on running an affiliate marketing link through your blog then yes it is useful, but if you are think of using another platform this then blogging would have no effect on running an affiliate campaign somewhere else.