Is revenue from affiliate programs worth the effort?

I am new to affiliate programs, and considering joining. My primary question is, are they worth the effort? Do they pay? Pay well? Difficult to be an affiliate? For example: A buddy was in a well-known program, and was suddenly dropped because he "wasn't generating enough income". This sounded curious since the retailer wasn't exactly losing any money by having the affiliate! Anyone have any suggestions, answers, recommendations? Thanks!

 

Yes you can earn a ton of cash..

what's this well known program? I've never heard of that reason, sounds fishy to me

 

If I recall correctly, it was Amazon. I was rather surprised.

 

thats odd because i have had an account with Amazon for over a year without using it at all. Only lately have I come back to this and started using them.
Maybe his site was something that Amazon didn't like?
CJ is great in my opinion.

 

His site is focused on business and health care administration. Nothing controversial in the least. Perhaps he received that message in error. This was a year or two ago.

So, I get the impression that I must create a website, or websites, that generate a lot of traffic. That cannot be the easiest thing to accomplish! Any suggestions, anyone?