Just wondering how do I put a hit counter on my site

Most counter services including mine give you the code to add to your site, copy the code into the body of your HTML, where ever you want it to appear.

Im not using any service, im hosting my site directly from my own sever

You can host your own site and use someone else's counter, as pixelputty said. You can also put a JS counter on your site. Which ever you prefer.

Dave

Just subscribe to one of the websites offering free counter services. They'll give you a unique tracking code which you can put into your web pages.