Run Drupal in localhost then migrate to online once it's finalized
Since this is mostly likely a one time move (because the online version with likely be your master now) I wouldn't worry too much about perfecting the process. Just...


Dump the mySQL DB and place within the root.
Zip/Tar the codebase, including the files directory.
Move it to the server (via SCP or FTP), unzip/untar the whole thing.
Import the DB via: mysql -hHOST -uUSER -pPASS DBNAME &lt; db.mysql
Bam!


For continual workflow I usually use:


Backup &amp; Migrate to create database backups.
Git to move the code around (.gitignore your files directory)