As you can see, there are various approaches to this -- it all does after all boil down to personal preference. The key is to take an approach to "digital asset management" (DAM) that will enable quick accurate access over a range of dates and subject matter and also to ensure security and permanence through a reliable way of backing up your data, one that becomes a nice straightforward habit.
In fact, for someone first sorting this stuff out, it wouldn't hurt to get ahold of a helpful resource -- The DAM Book by Krogh. He is one who has developed a good comprehensive system and passes it and the whole idea along.
But still it's up to the individual -- I don't do everything exactly as he says, but what I do works for me
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You also note that many or most of who posted here are using Lightroom. There is a reason for this -- Lightroom was designed to facilitate an image organizing/managing system in a way that is integrated with other photography tasks such as Raw development, printing, Web output, etc.
But, if you don't have Lightroom, you can still "git 'er done" -- you can use, for example, the Canon software EOS Utillities or ZoomBrowser to download and rename your images and store them in your specified destination. I know that there are some keyword "things" also in the Canon software, although since I've never worked with them I can't comment on them. I would say, though, that I consider keywording a very important part of setting your library up for quick access, not just from a certain app like Lightroom, but using any of various apps that are "keyword aware". There are in fact third-party apps that do in fact let you enter keywords and other metadata that are not about "Raw developing" so would be used alongside of, say, Digital Photo Professional.
That brings up another point -- in my approach, I organize files and folders to be "recognizeable" from any approach I wish to take, whether it be the Lightroom Catalog, DPP, or the system file browser. So, naming files and folders immediately is a basic part of my process. I initially import a shoot using Lightroom onto an internal hard drive to make my short-term processing as speedy as possible -- Lightroom names the files and folders in my specified names which include a date and a description. Like I said, this is to facilitate a "recognize anywhere" approach whether from DPP, Bridge or Lightroom. After short-term processing the folders are moved onto an external hard drive in the appropriate Year parent folder and backed up onto a separate external drive. I have several drives with Year parent folders, and then a huge backup drive where they all fit!
Well, there I go being long-winded, but I hope I contributed something useful!
