[BjoernKW]

Yes, referrals are an important sales channel for freelancing.

However, meeting and talking to people, in other words just plain old sales work is vital, too. That's where a decent website helps a lot: You can refer people interested in your services to your website for further information, testimonials, previous projects etc.

In other words, potential customers probably won't find you via a Google search (unless you're a high-profile specialist or open source contributor in your area of expertise) but a decent business website will complement the rest of your sales efforts.