$3,000 a month for SEO to rank up your site is minimal investment. OP is on the right track real SEO and page ranking costs a lot to get real organic traffic that converts. Competitive keywords and stay on top above all other sites is hard work and maintaining that is even harder. Google will rap you if not done correctly.
OP will get to you when I need some services but can you provide some sample sites you have worked on? 
 

-onewiseguy