You aren't the only one. There's plenty of competition in the local leads space. However, in the past two years variables/forces - such as how Google has been playing in the local space and tweaking local SERPs - has made the game of ranking and getting a sustainable ROI from local niche directory sites a bit more challenging, especially for smaller or less sophisticated players.

Also, profitability and concerns about competition are two reasons folks keep a low profile when it comes to discussing their interests, successes, profitable markets, etc. A long time ago, before the hordes of make money online wannabees descended on the internets, there was a slightly more liberal sharing of ideas, strategies, etc. These days there's very little reason to broadcast one's online success strategies - unless those strategies have stopped working and you've moved on to selling the ebook about the strategy . . after mentoring others for a fee . . after selling the "course series" for $5K a pop . . after . .

There's still room to play and local businesses are always looking for their next customer or client. The question will always be "What do you offer that the other dozens or hundreds or thousands of other players in the local leadgen space don't have?"

For me, a nice domain helps, but it's not a panacea.

In the mid-2000s, niche directories for service businesses were all the rage.

As Webwork said, it's harder to get these types of sites to rank nowadays. It's even harder to get advertisers for these types of sites, who are now bombarded by requests for advertising dollars from these types of sites.

That said, they still exist.

Yeah, more than 70% people search online for their daily needs. This shows the competitiveness of local markets. Businesses are doing everything to be no#1 for their products and services. For this, local directories like Yahoo, Google, Yelp are playing a major role.