I would suggest you go offline and speak directly with business owners. The face-to-face contact matters a lot.
How can you find clients offline when most businesses today that are looking for a web designer can easily be found on the web. It's true that F2F contract do really count and it matters a lot but with today's phasing and digital age, it's easier to find clients that are on this specific niche online. When you go offline and try to look for them personally, you'll walk and go through each establishment to ask them if they need a web designer? I don't think that's a good strategy and you'll be exerting a lot of effort from it and that's why it's better to use the resources that you've got and be online and look for them at many job marketplaces which both of you can meet online and have conferences and sign contracts online.
Well, sometimes it does work when you walk up to a software house or a company and drop your CV letting them know that you are looking for a job and what position you are willing to work in, but as you said, it's not really required since almost all the companies even the smallest ones are available online or at least have their social media handles where they can be reached out.
I believe having interviews on-site is much better than having them online if you are interviewing for a job within the same city that you're living in because you may face problems in online interviews sometimes with an internet connection or any other issue can disturb your interview and you may lose the opportunity.