This information was pulled directly from Stainmaster's website.
Use entry mats
Place mats inside and outside entrances to trap soil before it can be tracked into your home. Think of entry mats as a simple way to protect your investment. If you use them, you will track much less dirt and sand onto your new carpet. This not only keeps your carpet looking cleaner, it also helps protect the fibers from abrasion and dulling. Keeping dirt away from your carpet is the best way to maintain its appearance and value.
Brushing crushed-pile areas
Rearranging your furniture periodically changes the traffic patterns to distribute wear more evenly. Heavy furniture crushes carpet pile. If you do rearrange your tables and sofas, you probably will see deep indentations in the carpet where the furniture legs were resting. To solve the problem, spray a small amount of water on the affected area and use a pile grooming brush available from your carpet retailer to lift the crushed pile.
Avoiding contact with color-destroying products
Household chemicals, medications and cosmetics can permanently stain or remove color from your carpet. These household chemicals often are the culprits of "mystery stains" because they may not discolor the carpet for several days or weeks. The best prevention is to keep household chemicals away from your carpet.
Vacuum often Vacuuming cannot wear out your carpet, but soil can. Even with entry mats, eventually dirt and grit can become embedded in your carpet's pile. When that happens, your carpet will become discolored and matted. Up to 80% of the soil in carpet is of the dry particulate type that can be removed with a vacuum cleaner.
Daily vacuuming is recommended for high-traffic areas with seven passes of the vacuum cleaner over each section of carpet. For light-traffic areas, the recommendation is weekly vacuuming with three passes over each carpet section. The best vacuum for carpeted areas is one with a beater bar or rotating brush and powerful suction. Be sure to adjust the vacuum for the height of your carpet. Deep brush agitation may damage loop-pile Berber carpet. Also check the vacuum bag regularly, and change it when it is half full for most effective cleaning. And remember to replace worn belts and brushes in the maintenance cycle recommended by your vacuum manufacturer.
Even if you vacuum your carpet regularly, soil will accumulate that can only be removed by a more thorough professional cleaning.
