2 months ago I deployed a client project online - Оптика Зорница, for optic services, sunglasses, health consultations etc. It started with no budget for advertisements and I had to do at least basic ranking. What I did was the standard procedure:

• Chose an appropriate domain name
• Define title/keywords/descriptions
• Write valid XHTML/CSS
• Link it from my personal projects
• Submit the URL in public search engines and social networks
• Create a blog and publish information about new products, health advices and other useful data
• Simulate dynamic activity via rss feeds in the basic site
• Create Facebook fanpage of the website

I have a couple of other things to do, but I prefer doing them step by step - in order to keep regular activity and watch the continuous improvement. Currently I keep the first 2 places for the Optics name (it already existed in many ranked catalogs) and present on second page on "Оптика" search in Google. Google page rank - 2. Target is first page and blog popularity.