Solo advertisements get sold as the fast route to a list, and Matt Schoenherr wrote two posts saying they are mostly rubbish, one of them with a word in the title he did not soften. That willingness is the character of the blog.
The Craigslist guide is the practical centrepiece. He deals with the thing that defeats most people, which is having advertisements repeatedly disallowed, and works through titles, placement and what actually gets through. It is written for somebody who tried it once, got blocked, and gave up.
There is a clear introduction to attraction marketing as promoting yourself rather than a product, a piece on what a blog even is for a writer who has never had one, and a short one on buying small services to push traffic.
Nine posts. Read the solo advertisement pieces before you spend anything on a list, and the Craigslist guide if you have been beaten by their moderation.