In 2011 and 2012 I traveled every week for my company. I boarded over 150 flights each year. I found that the purchasing timeframe to find the cheapest price depended upon the type of flight and remaining seats.
If you fly a common travel route, such as Houston to Denver, the pricing won't vary much. I've only found $50 cheaper fights a few times.
The flights into small airports, on the other hand, are very volatile. If you wait too long and the flight fills up one will be deciding between paying $200 more or flying in the next day. If you really want to get the bottom price, my suggestion would be find your ideal flight and watch the remaining seats. Subscribing to some of the ticketing websites can help too. I've had great luck with airfarewatchdog.com. Also, there are websites that give great historical prices and delay stats of flights. PM me if you are interested. I've got them saved at the office and will post them if folks are interested.
After all of that, my preference is to identify what flight fits your schedule the best and book it early, a couple months in advance. Unless the price for a later/earlier flight is substantial, I put a greater value on maximizing my time in the field.
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