not really tricks, just general smart usage.
i have all cards i use setup on at least a minimum payment for autopay, that way its nearly impossible for me to be late.
i dont know how many times, but both my wife and mom have mistakenly paid the same card twice and missed paying another... hence, got a late payment. never happened to me once, this process guarantees it cannot happen.
low utilization. i can borrow like $150k on credit but only have about $15k in balances right now, i am taking advantage of a 0% fee, 0% for 12 month offer.
i have lots of accounts open, all in good standing.
prepaying CC accounts to put them into credit state shouldnt matter and many cards will just refund your money if they have it more than 2 weeks.
watch the age of you open accounts. try not to close your oldest cards/accounts, no matter if you will use them or not. close your newest accounts if they are no longer of use to you.
dispute everything. if the item is negative, do whatever you can to get it dropped/removed from the report.
whether you carry a balance month to month, or you pay off the card each month REALLY shouldnt change your score, because the CC vendor isnt reporting that. they only report the balance at a specific time each month. so even if you pay off the card each month, the balance will hardly ever report as zero on the credit report. therefore, you might as well just pay off the CC each month, so you can avoid any CC interest fees.