Why you should trust
Russell Aaron with
your WordPress site.
I didn’t learn WordPress at a fancy college or career academy. I graduated from the University of YouTube. My internship was the Las Vegas WordPress Meetup and WordCamp Vegas. The rest I learned building mortgage company platforms, working for casinos, inside managed WordPress hosts, and at some of the best WordPress development and support shops on the planet. Here’s the full story.
It started with a
journalism class.
Freshman orientation. The head of the English department walked in and said something that changed everything: “If you’re going to be a journalist, you need a blog, or no one will publish your writing.”
That one line sent me down a WordPress rabbit hole that became a 15-year career. No formal CS degree. No bootcamp. Just obsessive learning, a Vegas WordPress community that pushed me, and enough real-world experience to know this stuff cold.
“If you’re going to be a journalist, you need your own blog — or no one will publish your writing.” — Head of English Dept., Freshman Orientation
15 years. No shortcuts.
Built for the site owner who has been burned: the developer who disappeared after launch, the agency charging monthly for work they can’t prove. No retainers. No care plans. Hands-on WordPress help from someone who actually knows what they’re doing.
Built custom plugins connecting WordPress into AppPresser’s mobile app framework. Deep work with the REST API and plugin architecture. Managed full inbound support through HelpScout and maintained product documentation end-to-end.
Specialized in performance for content-heavy sites, primarily food bloggers and lifestyle publishers where a two-second load time improvement is a business outcome. WP Rocket, Perfmatters, Core Web Vitals, Cloudflare, database optimization.
Watched managed WordPress hosting become an industry term from the inside. Saw “managed WordPress” become a premium SEO play more than a premium service. That gap between what clients were paying for and what they were actually getting is the problem I’m building tools to solve.
Got the job through two referrals from the Vegas WordPress community. Rebuilt a Frankenstein theme as a complete custom WordPress theme powered by ACF. My name is still in the active stylesheet on plazahotelcasino.com. Co-hosted the first podcast ever produced by a Las Vegas hotel and casino.
Rebuilt the Maintainn support operation from the ground up: tiered system across 500+ client sites, client tracking via Easy Digital Downloads, pitched converting enterprise clients (Microsoft, Campbell Soup) into support retainers. Reduced inbound tickets by actually caring about the update process.
Found the job on Craigslist. Walked in, got into the hosting panel, restored a locked-out database, and was hired on the spot. Five years of creative freedom followed: rebuilt the site six times, built a realtor network that kept the company alive when the housing bubble popped.
Over eleven years running the meetup at the Innevation Center at Switch. Built the psychological safety that let people admit what they didn’t know. People found WordPress careers because of it. I found my own voice. That education is the foundation of everything I’m building now.
Built in Vegas. Known across the WP world.
The Las Vegas WordPress community gave me my career. I paid it forward. And still do.
WordCamp Speaker
Presented at WordCamp Las Vegas, San Diego, Ann Arbor and others. Subjects ranged from power user skills to WordPress support careers. All talks archived on WordPress.tv.
View on WordPress.tv →Las Vegas WP Meetup — Lead Organizer
Ran the Las Vegas WordPress Meetup Group for years. Organized events, brought in speakers, and helped build one of the most active WP communities in the Southwest.
Visit the Group →WPWatercooler Network Regular
Years of Friday conversations on WPWatercooler, WPBlab and Dev Branch. Guest since Episode 81, still checking in regularly. One of the most consistent community presences in the podcast space.
Listen to Episodes →WordPress.org Plugin Contributor
Named contributor on the Maintainn Tools plugin — a professional support tool installed across hundreds of enterprise WordPress sites to help technicians audit server and WP environments.
View Plugin →WPRoundTable Interview
Sat down for a long-form interview on WPRoundTable (Ep. 112) discussing the journey, the philosophy behind WordPress support, and what it means to build a community-driven career.
Plaza Hotel & Casino Podcast
Co-host of “On the Corner of Main Street,” the first podcast ever produced by a Las Vegas hotel and casino. A point of Vegas pride and a unique piece of WordPress-powered history.
Listen Here →Where you might have heard me
I’ve been on WordCamp stages since 2012. These are the talks I’m most proud of. The ones where I said something the room wasn’t quite ready to hear yet.
The longest-running WordPress podcast community I’ve been part of. Too many episodes to count. Here are a few favorites that still hold up.
What I know and how well I know it
WordPress Core
Support & Operations
Development & Tools
Stop Googling at 3am.
Let’s fix this together.
One session with me will save you more time than six months of forum posts. No fluff, no retainer required, no disappearing act.