The sinlge most important thing for keeping noise down is to nail the exposure (which isn't always easy). A well exposed high ISO shot can look better than a low ISO shot that has had a lot of processing to pull it back for being underexposed. Looking in your gallery you seem to be using a 400D which should only start to need noise reduction on shots taken at ISO800 and above. I often use selective sharpening, only applying USM to the areas that need it (so don't sharpen backgrounds). Sharpening will make noise more noticable, so perhaps doing a little less sharpening will help. NR software can be very effective if used well, basically it smooths the image so counters the effect of sharpening - the trick is to balance sharpness and noise.
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