Please help I'm in a corner here!

So I don't consider myself a spammer or a bad person but...I started a user-generated content site which hasn't attracted any budding article writers yet. I had the genius idea of posting a "host your guest article on my site" gig to fiverr, giving people the illusion that posting to my site had value in store for them rather than for me. I advertised it as a highly targeted environmental niche site when in fact the site is only partially environmental niche based and there are less than a hundred people on it a day at this point. Also, since it is user generated content these fiverr people would ordinarily get to post for free, not for five dollars. Now I have people asking what the site's link is before they buy. Not just buyers, but actually a well established seller too.

Should I just not respond? Should I tell them I refuse? Should I send my link? Should I bail and delete the gig?

Frankly...I feel bad about contributing to the shittier side of the fiverr community.

So I guess you didn't think about this before you started the gig? nice.....ha....

manny521 said:

So I guess you didn't think about this before you started the gig? nice.....ha....

Click to expand...

Yeah I didn't think of it, I'm new to this world - it's my first ever website.

I deleted the gig already. Good thing I thought to create a new account before I did it instead of tarnishing my regular account's reputation though.

Very little value for the user and who would index their content on your website for free? Focus your energy towards delivering value next time and build a foundation of clients that trust you.

grahgrah said:

Yeah I didn't think of it, I'm new to this world - it's my first ever website.

I deleted the gig already. Good thing I thought to create a new account before I did it instead of tarnishing my regular account's reputation though.

Click to expand...

If your site was not providing any value to your potential buyers you did the right thing.

gu3sswh0 said:

Very little value for the user and who would index their content on your website for free? Focus your energy towards delivering value next time and build a foundation of clients that trust you.

Click to expand...

Well the incentive for the content was supposed to be a link back to the website/blog and author credit. Fresh content from those users would keep readers coming and more readers would keep fresh content coming...it's just that right now on day four there's none of that on either side. I also have a contest in place where writers can win a modest prize and also automatically get a ebook(plr) for participating...

Do you have any other tips for how I can get the cycle moving? Should I keep putting out editorial content until I have brag-worthy visitor numbers and then market to writers?