How do you ( successful programmers ) track your site traffic?

I'm finally at a place after developing countless losing business websites of finally getting some traffic. I am aware of the Request object and the fields describing where the request came from and where others go. I can't imagine that you guys are actually save a record for each 'hit' onto or off of your site. Are there any mainstream strategies in use where one can provide credible information to advertisers. I am most grateful for your experience. David

Google Analytics?

InventoryTrackers wrote: