I was *really* surprised my how much mileage I got out of using some eq on my kick (or...you know, everything).

Ocelot has a tutorial that's not super helpful IMO, but he does mention the way he likes to eq by putting a high shelf on and knocking the "beater" of the kick by even as much as -10dB. I haven't found the need to cut by more than 5dB, but I like snappy kicks.

Using a shelf eq like this and finding the right frequency for it can let you put more or less click and snap in the kick without stealing power from the low end.

Also, my favorite tip I picked up from an isratrance thread is to crank the $&*% out of your headphones or speakers (if you have a sub...I don't) and listen really hard for the sub-bass frequencies. Move a high pass down slowly from 50hz until you can't hear an audible difference. In the end, you have a kick that has nice sub-bass but only as much as is needed for effect and no extra super low (20-30hz) mud. Having too much sound down that low will make your kick sound softer because all the headroom is taken up by large amplitudes in this range which you don't really hear so much as feel. Having too much of this is no good.

Also, try punching some holes for your bass synth to shine through. Cleans and tightens up the whole boom and thunder of the track.

Basically, careful eq is magical in my experience.