C-Bet, keep firing?

[AaronO]

I've seen it countless times, and am interested in your take on how to play this:

I'm in late position with a couple of limpers in front, pick up AK and raise. Inevitably I get a caller or two. The flop is raggedy, everyone checks, and I fire a C-Bet. At least one person calls. That person then checks the turn, which again misses me.

Now what? I understand that this is read dependent, but oftentimes it seems like if I fire again, I get called by someone floating with A-Q or K-Q who I'm ahead of. I usually feel compelled to fire again at the river, and by this point, I've bloated the pot. Sometimes people fold, but I've also been called down by people who caught bottom pair, and just kept calling. The net result seems to be that occasionally I pick up the pot by being aggressive, but often times lose big pots to people who simply refuse to fold any piece of the board.

I guess the crux is that I'm having trouble distinguishing between calling stations who float, and calling stations that call you down with any piece of the board. I seem to be leaking by continuing to fire at pots that I miss. At these stakes, is it better to fire once, and then give up if called, or just keep firing?

[C4LL4W4Y]

Every board and opponent will dictate what you're supposed to do. This is by no means a general situation.