usually rewards tend to backfire. other players get jealous, some players start act like they're above and beyond and deserve all those special things just because they showed up and don't contribute any more than that.
Agreed. Steer clear of the rewards. You only get loot whores with those. Just announce at the beginning of the week what you are doing and go off that. If anything, try to recruit for like 2 weeks in the guild. If that fails, recruit outside of guild. Once your old raiders see the guild starting to clear content, it might motivate them to get back into raiding.