1. From what I've heard, ignoring the villagers after only talking to them once (Introducing yourself) is the best way, befriending them takes a while, but sometimes they'll leave before you reach a very high level on the friendship ladder.
2.Villager cycling is where you make a bunch of villagers move out, most people do this to get back a villager they lost. (You can only get back an old villager after cycling out 16 villagers, after the villager you want back.)
3. For me at least, I did the paths first, and then flowers, although villagers move out or in and so I change up my paths, as well as re-decorating my town by removing trees/planting new ones, and re-placing my flowers.