Sometimes, I go with another tactic, or blend it with controlling the center - attacking the king's bishop's square. Learn the Scholar's Mate, which involves attacking that square with the queen and bishop, and work that into your game. You can pile on pieces to making that work, and it'll frustrate some opponents into making mistakes.
For a game against an advanced player you must master the openings which can be hard (I always make mistakes in the opening stages).
Write down at least some of your games then have them critiqued later, or critique them yourself - but not immediately after a game; I once dropped in on a chess club that has heavily into post-game critiques and found it so unpleasant that I never attended again.
