when you are in an early position, and after the flop you are drawing for a open end straight or a flush, and you have nothing else and are hoping for a free or at least cheap card: what do you usually do to try to get the next card as cheap as possible?

I used to check and hope maybe everyone checks behind me, but this really never works, or nearly never as someone will take a stab at the pot. So recently I began to bet instead, but not a big bet, maybe 2bb.
This seems to work alot more as the chance someone raises is smaller than someone betting the way I see it and it seems much cheaper.