(FORTUNE Small Business) – Leave it to the guy who created the online game for the original Matrix movie to come up with Site Pal, software that allows businesses to create online conversational characters. Since launching Site Pal in 2001, says Adi Sideman, 34, his company, Oddcast, based in New York City, has signed up more than 1,000 clients, including Coca-Cola, L'Oréal, and Verizon. For about $10 a month, they get a custom-designed animated virtual host for their website or online ad. L'Oréal's host, for instance, is an animated Asian woman that talks potential customers through their skin-care needs. Of late Oddcast has really heated up, adding around 200 clients a month since January, up from fewer than 15 a month previously. --D.C.