Richard:
I am new to this forum, but not new to Internet and to marketing.
Yes, you should write your articles so that your target audience will be interested in them. The idea is that because your article is something they would want to read (and do read) then when they get to the end of the article and read your by line/bio, they will click through to your site.
Also, this gives you incoming links to your site from a page that is on topic to your site. This is better for SEO.
Kim Dushinski
www.MobileMarketingProfits.com
www.twitter.com/kimdushinski