AK, early position

[guyincognito210]

When UTG, UTG+1, and MP1, do you raise with AKs, AKo, and AQs. I always have and lately have been considering just limping in most situations. I normally play 2-4 at PP. These games are usually very loose and i end up with 2-3 callers plus 1 or both blinds. This is great when i hit but when i miss i am lost. Since i miss more than i hit I realize i need to find a beter way to play this situation and get it right.
When i do miss i usually continuation bet. Fine. 4th street, again bet. 5th street. still nothing, i got it heads up against the button. do i bet?, check call, or check fold. normally if the board has some missed draws i would bet out hoping he missed his draw while he may have picked up a small pair on 4th or something. so he may fold a better hand. if its connected, big cards, or 3 flush i may check call. never check fold unless board is really scary. If i do bet out and get raised i always call.
My thinking is if these hands play well multi or short i might as well limp, and 3-bet if it gets raised. i am comfortable 3-betting all three of these hands in most situations and often i can make a few players face 2 bets instead of 1, thus narrowing the field and leaving dead money in the pot. BTW, a high percentage of these pots get rasied, so because of that i think this may be the best stategy. Yes i know when the pot isn't raised i am giving too much up, but in early positon after the flop i think i tend to want to keep the lead. that is costing me bets, this may be the root of the whole problem. should i not bet when i misss, check/call, check fold. I know this is a sticky situation for a lot of players and maybe a leak for me? dunno. I appreciate all of the thoughts on how you guys handle it.
Anyways i know a asked a lot of questions and posed a few situations, please respond the the ones i got most wrong?