graeme_p - 6:37 am on Jul 13, 2012 (gmt 0)

I badly need help with link building. The problem is that the options seem to be:

1) SEOs I know by reputation. Problems: I cannot afford thousands of dollars a month, especially given results are uncertain.
2) Cheap people from freelancing websites. Problem: nofollowed links in the comments of completely irrelevant blogs are no good to me.
3) Do it myself. Problems: not enough time given other commitments, and I am not good at finding sites to approach.

Are there services somewhere between the thousands a month, and tens of dollars for low quality? What other options do I have? Is there a useful way to spend my limited budget?