The article title is absolutely KEY; it’s the most important part. You need to spend quite a bit of time making sure you get this right. Most readers will take a few seconds to make up their mind either to read your article or not so the title needs to GRAB their attention.

Here is what you need to concentrate on for the title.
1. You must include the keyword/s
2. Try to make it interesting
3. Make sure your content follows your title
4. Don’t make the title too long.

It doesn't really matter where in the title the keyword is, not in my experience anyway.

The goal is to get your keyword as close to the beginning as possible - without looking awkward or unnatural. So, if your target keyword is "lawn mowers", the title "Lawn Mowers - How to Find the Right One" is better than "How to Find the Right Lawn Mowers"

In addition to being better SEO-wise, writing your titles like these also tell people exactly what your article is about. Remember, people usually skim through titles and headlines until they spot one that looks interesting. If you can make yours catchy and descriptive (so that people know exactly what they can expect when they click on your article), you'll wind up with more views.

No it's not true.

The keyword can be anyplace inside the page title.

The only thing I suggest besides including your keyword in the title is to keep the title short & on target, don't ramble on with extra text that's not needed.

it is been said suggested by other pros that keyword density should be 2-3%i in your content. yes it is true that title of your article is the heart of your content. if you fill up it with keywords, then it become more easier for search engine to find them.

thanks.