No offense, but everybody and their mama posts questions like this but won’t mention the project. Sometimes Google, Yahoo!, and such might not work.

I just started a business, http://www.jetblackconsulting.com to get it going, i’m offering my full service, for free, including an on page optimization report so you can fix any on site items, in addition to helping you build back links.

That should do quite a bit for you, and well under even your budget ;-D
Do note that i plan to charge at least $100 a year once i get going, so in a year it will take part of your (new larger, due to higher traffic!) budget.