Just in case you haven't been paying attention, carpet has increased its share of the market by about 1% over the last year. Despite what is seen on home remodeling and purchasing shows, carpet is still king.

There are several reasons for this in today's economy. Carpet is the best value on the market. It can be purchased for less than most any other flooring material, in greater variety of styles, colors and patterns. It is a fast way to improve the appearance of any space.

What does that mean? If someone is remodeling they can remove the old flooring material and put in broadloom in a very short period of time to make the place look fresh and revitalized quickly.

Carpet can even be installed over hard surface flooring. For a rapid improvement to help sell a home carpet is the answer- fast, easy and effective. It will change an entire room or bring everything together. For style and fashion versatility, variety and parameters, carpet has no equal.

It also still has some of the most positive attributes of any flooring. It's warm and comfortable to walk or lay around on. It is easy to maintain. Check the Carpet & Rug Institute's Web site, carpet-rug.org for the facts.

Carpet is quiet and it insulates. It traps soils and particulate matter. Carpet is safe. Some people still want to think carpet is toxic but if it were everyone in the mills would be dying from it, store owners and salespeople would be dropping over, installers would be keeling over, and anyone who's had years of contact with it wouldn't be here now.

You don't see that happening do you? Common sense must prevail and having it sometimes is a challenge, especially with people who say how bad carpet is when it's not.

Misinformation about carpet persists even though every fallacy preached about it has been refuted and proven incorrect. Carpet is everywhere. It's in the cars and trucks we drive, the airplanes we fly in, buses and shuttles we ride in, the restaurants we eat in, hotels we stay in, churches we attend, theaters we go to, stores we shop in and any other place you can think of.

If it didn't work, was problematic and created issues with people's health don't you think we'd all be sick from it? But again, common sense isn't so common all the time.

Let's put this in a little more perspective. A carpet fiber is about a third the thickness of a human hair yet it performs a monumental task of performing on the floor. Synthetic fiber is stronger than steel. Specified and installed correctly and maintained properly carpet will and can outperform any material there is. The right carpet in the right place installed and maintained properly will last until the building falls down. If carpet fails to perform it's most often because the wrong product was sold and installed into the wrong place- that's not the carpet's fault; it's yours.

As for margins on carpet, or any flooring material you sell, that's a sales issue. If you don't know how to sell and you don't position yourself in the marketplace as a competent, professional supplier all you'll have to sell is price and your margins will suffer. If you're unique in the way you do business you'll get good margins.

Look around and see what types of businesses in your market are best at what they do, find out why and emulate them. Do understand, though, that in this economy it is a buyer's market and margins for everything are down no matter how high-end the product is. Even Ruth's Chris Steakhouses, a leader in its field, has value- priced meals right now.